A Bittersweet Pleasure
by Unknown Pain
Summary: I breathed unevenly as he trailed butterfly kisses on my neck. He pushed me to his bed while our lips were locked onto each other. "Stop. T-this is bad, and you know it..." He looked at me and a smirk appeared on his lips. "Admit it, you like it too." NxM
1. What A Disaster

**Written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.

**Disclaimer – **I don't want to be a show-off or something, but.. I FINALLY do OWN— *gets slapped in the face by Rekindled Moroseness* … I-I mean, I and Morosé don't own anything.. -_-

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

"_Loving you is like trying to touch a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter I – What A Disaster-**

I stared at my mother, too stunned to utter even a single word. Did I hear it correctly? Did she just say that she was getting _married_? Was I hallucinating or was she really moving on?

"Excuse me?" I asked, my voice an octave higher than normal.

Yuka, my mother, stared at me calmly, not even a hint of panic on her face. Her short brown hair was tucked behind her ears and her amber eyes were focused on my face. "I know I should have told you before. But, Mikan, you wouldn't have let me date anyone if I told you," she said.

"Mom! What about Dad? How could you?!" I screeched. "Did you even love him in the first place?"

Her eyes were fiery, a sign that she was angry. "Mikan Sakura! How dare you ask me such question?! Of course I loved your father! And I still do! But he's not here anymore! I deserve happiness too, Mikan! What do you want me to do? Mope around for the rest of my life?" she yelled, banging her right hand against the table.

I squirmed under her angry gaze, but I wasn't going to back down. "But, Mom! You're getting _married_? Without introducing the guy to me first?" I yelled back.

She took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm herself down. "I know, I was wrong. But, Mikan, he's a good guy, give him a chance," she pleaded.

"How do you want me to react, Mom? By saying 'oh, wonderful, I can't wait to meet him!'?" I said sarcastically.

"Mikan Sakura," she warned. I glared at her, I wasn't afraid of her at this moment. She was the one who did wrong; I was just reacting to her stupid news. I had every right to be angry with her.

How could she do such a thing? She's betraying me… She's betraying _Dad_! She always said that Dad was the only one and nobody else could replace him. That she loved him and nobody else! And this! She's getting married with a… _random_ guy that I didn't even know. She didn't even introduce him to me. How did she expect me to 'give him a chance' if I never saw that guy in my whole life before?

I sighed mentally. Ugh, fine. Maybe she's _a little bit_ right. Maybe she deserved some happiness. After the death of my father, Yukihira, five years ago, my mother was just a big, dark, gloomy cloud that was wandering through the streets and through our home. I always hated it to see my mother like that; every time if I saw her pained face or tears, I felt like someone had just stabbed my heart so many times that I began to cry.

When my father died, she never dated a guy anymore. Not only because I didn't want her to date anyone, but also because she never dared to do so. She never told me though, but I could tell. Her expression, her tears, her eyes: everything about her told me that she just was too scared to lose someone again.

But after she began to date again, she looked so much happier: her tears were gone and she began to grace me her famous, warm smile again. And if she's happy, I'm happy. So, maybe she's right about her deserving some happiness. I only wanted my mother to be happy, and nothing else.

But I had no idea who the guy she was going to marry was; she never talked about him or anything. What if the guy was a pervert who just wanted to bang her then leave her alone? She could at least show me a picture of him or she could at least say who he was, what his name was, etc. But no, of course not. She just had to say it like this, like it wasn't a big deal at all.

_Well, it is obviously a big deal to me! She hasn't told me anything about that damn guy who she's, apparently, sharing her/his bed with nor about her getting engaged! I'm her fucking daughter! What's with her? Didn't she trust me or what?! _

"Why didn't you tell me anything?!" I hissed, standing up from my chair, slamming my hands on the table. Mom stayed calm, her hands folded in front of her chest.

"Calm down," she began with a stern look. I frowned as a reply. "I wanted it to be a surprise, so that's why I haven't told you anything. I thought you would be happy for me."

I shot her a quick glare. "But that doesn't explain the fact that you haven't told me about that guy you're sharing your goddamn _bed_ with!" My mother cleared her throat, her stern look still present. "I told you already, Mikan. I know it is wrong, and I'm sorry for not saying anything about it. But, you wouldn't accept it anyway. You wouldn't let me date him."

"Of course not!" I cried, slamming my hand on the table again, not caring that my mother was going to scold me. "Why the hell do you think I'm not letting you date anyone?! That is because you promised Dad that you would love only _him_ and nobody else! That he was the only one for you, and nobody else! And now… he's dead. You're dating someone else, you're sharing your bed with him and you're saying the same things that you _promised_ Dad! I'm sure of that! Maybe that guy who's banging you around is making you happy, but you're betraying us, Mom! No. Not me, but Dad. You're fucking betraying Dad!"

Not a second later after I realized what I just shouted at my mother, I gasped loudly in shock and covered my mouth quickly with my two hands. Oh God... Did I just… say that?

I was staring at my mother with shock written all over my face. My mother was shocked as well, but her expression soon changed. "Mikan Sakura!" she scolded, looking furious. "How dare you to talk to me like that!" she yelled at me. "You know that it isn't true! I loved your father. I _still_ love your father. And that will never change!"

Mom took a deep breath, before releasing it again to calm herself down. She cleared her throat and licked her dry lips. "I understand why you're reacting that way. It was wrong to tell you the news this way. It was wrong and I'm terribly sorry about that. And, I understand that it is hard to see another man around your mother who isn't your father. But you need to understand, Mikan, that I want some happiness too."

She sighed, her lips forming a thin smile. "This man is making me really happy and I haven't felt that way since your father died. What do you want me to do, Mikan, turn back into what I was after your father died?" I widened my eyes, pretending to be curious about the floor. "I know that I was hurting you back then, and I hated it. I don't want that. And when _he_ came around, it all changed. He made me happy; he made me feel special again like how I felt when I was with your father back then."

I bit my lip. "He's a good guy, Mikan. Please give him a chance. I'll make sure you're going to meet him as soon as possible."

I sighed deeply, plopping down back on the chair. My eyes were still focused on the floor. I never… thought of it like that. "W-when… will the wedding be?" I mumbled, licking my dry lips.

"The wedding will be two weeks before the end of your summer vacation, so about a couple of weeks." I shifted my eyes to her, widening them as much as I could. _W-w-wha—?!_

My jaw almost dropped. I was staring at her with disbelief written all over my face. About a couple of weeks?! "B-but…! But summer will only last for six weeks!" I uttered. She nodded her head twice, smiling at me excitedly.

"We want to get married as soon as possible."

* * *

"Seriously?" Nonoko gasped in surprise, her dark blue eyes widening in surprise.

"That must suck," Anna said sympathetically, but she was still busy applying her eyeliner, which made her doesn't seem sympathetic at all. Meanwhile, Sumire, my other best friend, was busy eyeing a guy who was sitting two tables away from us.

I groaned. "Can't you two pay more attention to me? What am I? Chopped liver?" I growled in frustration. Anna put down her eyeliner once she has finished applying it and looked at me squarely in the eye. Sumire ignored me, still eyeing the guy.

"Permy!" I shrieked. "I am desperate here! Look at me and listen to me!"

Sumire sighed. "Don't make such a big fuss over it, Mikan. What's the big deal? Your mom is getting married to a rich guy, right? Isn't that good news?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Definitely not," I said exasperatedly.

"Don't be such a drama queen," Sumire retorted.

"When are you meeting him anyway?" Nonoko asked.

"Tonight, apparently," I said matter-of-factly, not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice. How could she do that to me, really? It was just yesterday that she told me about her plan of getting married, and now I had to meet my soon-to-be stepfather? Awesome, Mom.

"Let's hope the guy has a hot son, that way you won't get bored," Sumire said, her eyes still glued on the guy sitting two tables away from us. I glanced at the guy Sumire had been eye-fucking for a while and had to admit that he was handsome. He had tousled raven hair and was running his hands through it. He looked upset for he was glaring at the raven-haired girl sitting opposite of him.

"Mikan, Permy, stop eye-fucking that guy." Anna giggled. I shot a glare at her; I was so not eye-fucking the hot guy. Sumire licked her lips and giggled. "Damn, that guy is so hot," Sumire said matter-of-factly.

"Girls, come on! I'm in dire need of help here!" I whined.

Nonoko sighed. "What do you want me to say, Mikan? Just be a big girl and get over it, alright?" Anna nodded in agreement.

I sighed inwardly and darted my eyes somewhere else, knowing that my friends definitely couldn't provide me with the answers I sought. My eyes immediately landed on the raven-haired guy that Sumire was previously eye-fucking. He slammed his fist against the table and stood up, leaving the café hastily. The raven-haired girl was left behind, seeming perfectly at ease. Maybe they were having a lovers' quarrel?

That inspired me; I should just throw a tantrum tonight during my meeting with my soon-to-be stepfather. _Oh, yes, this should be interesting_, I smirked inwardly.

My friends all stared at me bemusedly, obviously wondering what had triggered my sudden change of mood. I just shot them an innocent smile, not wanting to reveal my plan. They'd tell me that I was being an immature brat, but who cares?

I _am_ an immature brat and I _am_ so gonna throw a tantrum. Watch me, Mom.

* * *

"Come on, Mikan. Give it a chance," said my mother as she brushed her fingers through her brown bangs as a sign of frustration, before placing her hand back on the black wheel of the car.

I growled a low "humph' as I rolled my eyes. I was leaning my head on my hand, and my arm was leaning on the arm rest. I was staring out of the window seeing my reflection, making me curl the edges of my full, red lips into a smirk.

I was normally an immature, brave yet innocent and optimistic girl who always wore clothes that didn't show _anything_ to _anyone_. But now, because I was clad in this clothes, I couldn't act like _that_ girl, could I?

My long, brown hair was tied in a high ponytail with some brown locks of my bangs hanging at each side of my face. I had smoky-eyes and dark, red lipstick applied on my lips. I was clad in a black crop top with a very low neckline that would expose my breasts if I tried to lean over to something, and tight, black jeans.

My new "style" wasn't really helping me on keeping my "innocent" look, but I didn't really care… _For_ _now_.

My mother and I were now driving towards a stylish, expensive restaurant to meet my soon-to-be stepfather. Before we left home, Mom asked me if I could wear something stylish because we were going to an expensive, chic restaurant. I knew why because it was really rare for us to go to the restaurant. I didn't want to go and thought of a plan: I went to my closet, to look for the clothes Sumire bought me once when she, Anna and Nonoko were planning to drag me to a night club.

I struggled to put them on, and struggled with my makeup but it was done. And even though I didn't like it, it was all worth it.

Mom wasn't, of course, happy with my appearance, but that was the plan. I planned to look like a skank, so that my mother would be embarrassed. The plan was that she wouldn't want to bring me to that chic restaurant and decide to bring me back home and _so_ I wouldn't need to meet my soon-to-be stepfather.

I glanced over at her. Truth to be told, while I looked like a skank, she looked beautiful: her brown hair was tied up backwards with a big, violet clip to expose her silver earrings and she was wearing a beautiful, long purple dress with glittered hem.

Mom glanced back at me, slightly creasing her eyebrows. "I can't believe you decided to wear _those_. I asked you to wear that beautiful orange dress that I bought for you last year, not _those._ Remember, we're going to a chic, expensive restaurant. Not a night club." She sighed. "And truth to be told, you look like a whore now."

I frowned at her. Even though I wanted to look like this, I couldn't help but get angry at her because of what she said. "Tch, I don't look like a whore, Mom," I spat, turning my eyes back to the window. "But if you think I look like a whore, then turn the car, go back home and leave me there so you can go alone. It would be really embarrassing if I were to go with you in these clothes, am I right?"

I saw her smirking, making me blink. Why was she smirking? I turned to her. "What?" I asked.

"I know what you're doing, Mikan. But trust me, dear: your little plan won't work. You need to give him a chance. And when you have met him, you would know what I'm talking about,"

I narrowed my eyes while slightly pouting at her before I turned my gaze back to the window, grunting a soft 'humph' to let her know that I didn't really care.

_We'll see about that, Mom. _

* * *

The restaurant turned out to be a small yet exclusive Italian restaurant that was often featured in magazines. I knew that because Anna loved cooking and food, and often moaned about how much she wanted to eat in this restaurant.

The hostess had just refused to gain me access to the restaurant and Mom was definitely irritated. She talked to the hostess but the hostess just wouldn't budge, kept saying that my dress wasn't appropriate for the place. I just smirked at Mom the whole time, knowing that the wheels had turned to my favor.

"Give it up, Mom. Just go inside, I can catch a cab home," I said, trying not to sound too giddy.

She glared at me. "You wish, young lady." She fished for her cell phone and when she had it in her hand, she dialed someone's number. "Hello?" A pause. "Yeah, I'm here, but Mikan is trying to." Another pause. "What? No, I can't! . . . Fine, fine." She grumbled then hung up.

A moment later, an older gentleman came out of the restaurant. He was dressed impeccably, in an expensive-looking suit and he had a wide grin on his face when he saw Mom. That was the moment that I knew the guy was my soon-to-be stepfather. He wasn't ugly; I had to say that he was a bit attractive for a man his age. He waved at Mom, which made me cringe outwardly. Did he just act like a stupid teenage boy in love?

I looked at Mom and caught her wearing a Cheshire grin on her face, which made me want to yell at her even more. The man gave her a thumbs-up gesture and talked to the hostess. They seemed to be in a heated discussion before he finally slipped a bill to her hands. She smiled sweetly at him then he left the hostess to talk to Mom.

"You look beautiful tonight," he said to Mom.

I made a face. Mom caught me and immediately sent me a warning glare. "Back at you, Nobuo." Mom winked. What the heck? "Sorry for bothering you, really. This is Mikan. Mikan, this is Nobuo Hyuuga."

He extended his hand to me, but I quickly dismissed it by nodding curtly and taking a step away from him. Mom opened her mouth to talk, but I quickly cut her off. "Let's don't bother with courtesy, shall we? I'm not saying that I'm not gonna give you a chance to prove that you're a good man, but I'm still pissed at the fact that you dated my mother for months without me knowing. I'm angry at the two of you and I won't pretend to be civil." I huffed.

To my surprise, Nobuo let out a hearty laugh. "You'll get along with my son just fine, I believe," he said.

I scowled, annoyed that I didn't get the reaction I sought. I expected him to be as annoyed as Mom, or better yet, to be so disgusted at his soon-to-be stepdaughter and call off his engagement with Mom. That was mean but I was really pissed at the two of them, so my wish was totally justified.

"I'm sorry—"

"She was right, Yuka. We hid the fact about us dating from our kids: they have every right to be angry with us," he said gently, taking Mom's hand in his. Ew.

They continued their conversation and I tuned them out, not wanting to hear their sickening banters. I followed them into the restaurant, trailing behind them while my eyes were fixed on their intertwined hands. She really was in love with him and vice versa. It was the first time I saw Mom looking so _happy_ and I didn't have the heart to crush her. But I was still pissed, so my logic wasn't in tune with my actions.

We were led to a booth at the far end of the restaurant and there, in the booth, was a guy: an insanely gorgeous raven-haired guy, a guy that somewhat looked so familiar. He was fiddling with his BlackBerry, typing furiously on it. Next to the guy sat a raven-haired girl who was giggling at him, saying something that made the guy groan in annoyance. He put his BlackBerry down on the table and seemed to snap at the girl, but she just shrugged. The girl too looked familiar, and even the scene looked too familiar to be true.

I blinked; I felt like I had just seen them earlier, but I couldn't figure out where.

Nobuo cleared his throat, causing the girl to look at us. The girl immediately smiled warmly at Nobuo and Mom, but when her eyes darted to me, she cast me a disapproving look. What the heck was her problem?

Nobuo put a hand on my shoulder and I immediately slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me," I growled in annoyance.

"Thank God, someone finally decided to put you in your place," the guy spoke, his crimson eyes trained on Nobuo. His tantalizing eyes moved to eye me and I suddenly felt exposed; he was practically ogling me. Oh, the nerve of the jerk.

"Have you ever heard of the term _decency_?" I sneered at the guy.

He raised his eyebrow at me. "Have you ever heard of the term _clothes_? You practically asked me to eye-fuck you when you're wearing that pathetic excuse of a shirt." He snorted.

"Calm down, kids!" Nobuo said while Yuka massaged her temple, stressing over my behavior perhaps.

"No," the raven-haired guy blurted out.

"Natsume . . ." Nobuo warned. Oh, finally a name to put with a face.

"Don't _Natsume_ me, _Dad_. I'm sorry I can't be a fucking saint like Aoi and I'm sorry that I don't like the fact that you're getting married. I'm also sorry that I can't like your soon-to-be wife and her daughter. I'm sorry I'm a major disappointment and I'm sorry I look like Mom so much that you don't want to look at me sometimes," Natsume snapped at Nobuo. He got up, practically kicking the chair, making a scene in the chic restaurant. He walked past us and made his way to the entrance of the restaurant.

Oh, what a disaster, indeed.

* * *

U.P – And here it is: the newest story of _**Rekindled Moroseness**_ and me, **A Bittersweet Pleasure**. Yes, this is my very first M-rated fanfic! Why you ask? Because I wanted something new, that's why. But… don't expect that I'm gonna write LEMON parts or anything. Nope, nada, nu-uh, _no_. Maybe I will write some kissing scenes, but that's it. I just leave the LEMON parts to the co-author of this fic, Morosé (_**Rekindled Moroseness**_), so you can just forget that thought of me writing LEMON. Okay?

Alright, now I have said that, I wanted to talk to you guys about the updating of this story: Morosé and I are both having a life to live. I hope that already explains you enough that the story is _not_ going to be updated fast. So, please be patient, okay? ^^

I hope you all liked this chapter, and please review and _please_ don't _flame_. Morosé and I won't accept any flames, only criticisms that is helping us to improve our story. So, only CRITICISMS and no FLAMES. I hope you all understood that.

So, again, please review and let us know if we need to continue this story.

Much love from both of us,  
- Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.


	2. Realizing the Mistakes

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.

**Continued by –** Unknown Pain.

**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

"_Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter II – Realizing the Mistakes-**

I brushed my fingers through my loose, brown hair as the locks fell in front of my eyes. I heaved a sigh and turned over a page of my magazine.

"Ah, it's perfect! It looks so beautiful on you, Miss," I heard the shop assistant squealing at Mom. I glanced up at her; my mother was modeling in front of the mirror while the shop assistant stood behind her.

Mom had her hair in a high bun and was wearing a beautiful, long plain-white wedding dress with light gray, glittered swirls at the edges of it. On the end there were nice pleats like the long transparent veil that was hanging in front of her smiling face. My eyes widened at the sight. She really did looked beautiful wearing that dress.

Mom twirled around a couple of times and nodded her head. "The dress is beautiful," she began and then turned towards me. "What do you think, Mikan?"

I looked back at her and shrugged. "I don't know; you're the one who's getting married, Mom." Mom turned back to the mirror and took a good look at her figure again. I heaved a sigh and turned back to my magazine. "By the way, Mom, why am I here again?" From the corner of my eyes, I saw that Mom had turned her attention back to me with her hands placed on her hips. "Because you're grounded."

"For your information, grounded means no TV, no computer, no games, no going out, and being locked up in your room. And this doesn't really look like my bedroom, does it?"

Mom nodded her head. "I know. I also know that you're not a big fan of this wedding and that doing this really annoys you. See this as a punishment for what happened yesterday in the restaurant."

I scoffed, not replying to what she said and flipped over another page of the magazine. Tch, right. Like it was my fault. She was the one who was so she stubborn she didn't bring me home. If I were her, I would've done that right away.

"You know, you really embarrassed us there," she told me with a sigh. I looked up at her. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't make a scene. That boy with that raven hair stormed out of the restaurant, yelling and swearing. So blame him, not me." She raised her brown brow. "You mean Natsume?"

I raised my eyebrow back at her. Ah, yes. That hot lad's name was Natsume. "Yeah," I answered shortly and turned my attention back towards my magazine as I crossed my legs.

"Well, you might be right. But he didn't look like a whore, even though you were planning to look like one so you wouldn't be with us." She turned back to the mirror to take a good look at herself once more while I just rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Whatever," I grumbled.

"Really Miss, it looks beautiful on you." The shop assistant told my mother happily, pushing her to buy the (obviously expensive) dress. I sighed, starting to get bored. I gazed up at my mother. "Mom, can I go? I mean, I only needed to help you with looking for a wedding dress. Looks like you've found one already, so my work here is done. Can I?"

"No," she answered shortly, her amber eyes turning to me. I closed my magazine and creased my eyebrows. "What? Why not?"

"We're not done yet,"

"But you've already got the dress!"

"So? That doesn't mean we're done. We still need to buy some other things."

"Like…?"

"Like makeup and other things for the wedding,"

I sighed deeply. "You still got three weeks to go, you know." Mom creased her forehead slightly in annoyance. "Mikan, you're staying. Period." I scoffed in return and rolled my eyes away from her. Just then I saw someone coming to our direction: it was a girl from around my age. She had beautiful crimson eyes and short, neck-length raven hair. She was wearing a red tube-top that matched the small, red hairclip that kept a part of her hair tucked behind her ear and sky-blue jeans.

I raised my eyebrow as I saw her. Hey, isn't that—?

"Aoi!"

My mother turned to her direction and presented her a bright smile. "How are you, dear?" she asked the girl, apparently named Aoi, and was ready to hug her. Aoi smiled. "Yuka! I'm fine, thanks. How are you?" Then she pushed her away gently to face her. She looked at what my mother was wearing before her crimson eyes turned back to her face. "Well, well. Look at you," she said with a small grin. "You're really in for it, huh?"

Mom chuckled softly. "Is it so obvious then?"

Aoi nodded her head, giggling.

Mom giggled with her, a bit embarrassed with herself. She twirled around in front of Aoi. "Well, what do you think of this dress then? I'm not sure if I should buy it or not."

"Are you kidding me?" Aoi beamed with her eyes on the beautiful wedding dress as Mom twirled around. "It's beautiful! You look great in it! You really should buy it. And I think that Dad would love it as well." She winked at my mother. Mom only giggled, blushing slightly at what she said.

I rolled my eyes. "Try wearing a hideous orange dress, Mom, and she'll still call you beautiful." I snickered. Aoi turned all of a sudden to me with an annoyed look. "What's your problem, bitch?"

"I should be asking you that," I snapped back, frowning.

"Be happy for your mom, will you?"

"Why don't you just mourn for me?"

"Quit being a bitch!"

"Quit acting like a Mary Sue!"

"Girls! Stop it!" Mom yelled all of a sudden, effectively stopping the little fight we were having.

We both did what Mom told us to do, though I was scoffing while the little-miss-perfect here looked up at Mom and apologized for what just happened.

Mom smiled at her, and patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay, Aoi. It doesn't matter." She leaned her face near hers. I heard her whisper something in her ear. I couldn't hear exactly what Mom whispered in Aoi's ear, but what I heard was, "Give her some time."

This made me narrow my eyes. What the heck is that supposed to mean?

After Mom stood straight again, Aoi nodded her head at her. Mom smiled and then shifted her amber eyes towards me. "Mikan, can you and Aoi wait here? I'm going to buy the dress." I sighed. "Does it look like I've got a choice?"

Mom gave me a stern look as a warning. After she changed into her normal clothes again, she walked away with the dress in her hands and the shop assistant followed her closely behind.

Aoi and I didn't saying anything to each other. I was sitting on the chair with my legs crossed and reading my magazine again while Aoi just stood there in the same spot, her arms folded in front of her chest.

"You know," she started slowly, breaking the silence. I looked up at her. "You really need to be happy for your mom."

I rolled my eyes away from her, annoyed. Why does she care? "Mind your own business, will you?"

She sighed, and placed a hand on her hip. "Seriously, stop acting so childish. Don't you see that you're only hurting her with this idiotic little act? And yesterday, that was just… horrible. Did you know that you looked like a damn whore who was looking for someone to bang her then and there? Ugh, you really embarrassed us yesterday, seriously."

I frowned in annoyance. "God, will you stop acting like my mother? She already told me you were all embarrassed, so there's no need to repeat what I already know, thank you."

"Ah, so Yuka already talked about it," Aoi said and ran her hand through her raven locks. "And what did you say? Did you apologize to her?" I shook my head twice. "Nope," I said shortly and turned my attention back to my magazine. Though, I could sense her creasing her raven eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Because, truth to be told, I kinda liked it."

Aoi rolled her crimson eyes away. "So, you enjoyed being a whore. Whoah, my soon-to-be stepsister is going to wander through the streets at night, waiting for someone to stop by her and bang her for money. Great! I always wanted a sister like that!" she said sarcastically. I glared at her. "I didn't say that."

"No, but you meant it."

I sighed in annoyance. "Okay, whatever. Don't you have a boyfriend who you need to go to or something, or to go to my mother to make sure she _will_ buy the dress?" Aoi turned around and her eyes turned to my mother's direction. "Looks like she's just fine," she turned back to me. "And no, I don't have a boyfriend." Aoi frowned.

I rolled my eyes in return. I understood why. "Whatever. Just go somewhere so you can leave me alone. I don't need two mothers hanging around me, thank you very much." I turned back to my magazine, _again_, and hoped that she would go away. But I saw from the corner of my eyes that she didn't even move; she just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and sighed a soft yet meaningful sigh.

"Okay," she started. "You know what? This is pointless."

I looked up at her and raised my brow and waited for her to continue.

"We're already bickering and judging each other when we don't even know each other," She ran her fingers through her raven locks. "So I think we need to start over." When Aoi finished she looked at me for a reaction.

I scratched the back of my head and mentally agreed with her; she has a point. We don't even know each other and yet we're already judging. It's actually stupid.

I finally nodded two short nods and sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I said. "This is a waste of time and we've hardly even met."

Aoi nodded her head and her lips turned into a smile. "That's what I'm talking about." Then she walked over to me and stopped in front of me. Her hand reached out. "My name is Aoi Hyuuga, yours?"

My eyebrow began to rise again. I shook my head at what she was trying to do. But I stood up and shook her hand for a short moment, and my lips turned into a smile as well. "My name is Mikan Sakura." I replied.

"Nice to meet you, Mikan."

"Nice to meet you too, Aoi."

I looked at her as she was still smiling at me and let out a small chuckle before our hands parted from each other. To be honest, she didn't look like little-miss-perfect now. Instead she actually looked like a nice girl who just wanted to help out with the big changes there are going to be. But I don't get her. How can she actually be like this when her father's about to marry someone who isn't her mother?

"But," her voice ran through my ears, snapping me back to reality. "Did you really enjoy being seen as a whore?" I glared at her in annoyance. "Will you just drop it?"

Before Aoi could reply, my Mom came back to us with lips brightly curled up in a smile. "I'm done. You girls ready to go?"

Aoi turned around to face her. "Where's the dress?" she asked. Her crimson eyes turned to my mother's hands.

"Oh. They said they would bring the dress to us." Mom told her. Aoi nodded her head and smiled. "That's so nice!"

"I know, right? Well, I think it is time to go now." We both nodded our heads in agreement and with that, we followed my mother to the exit.

* * *

I stood in the hall way and peeked through the slightly open door. I frowned in annoyance as Mom's guests started to squeal and giggle after she finished telling how she and Nobuo met.

It was almost ten o'clock and her guests came about an hour ago. Ever since they arrived they did nothing but talk about that stupid wedding, Nobuo, herself, how the two met, then how they fell in love with each other, etc, etc. I needed to go to my room when they came because I was grounded and I would only ruin the moment.

I just came here to see if they left and strangely enough, they hadn't yet.

"And? Was it love at first sight?" a blond woman who sat next to Mom giggled. Mom slightly blushed and nodded her head right away; a smile formed on her lips as she started to remember.

The other one silently squealed. "That's so romantic!"

I rolled my eyes at this before creasing my eyebrows. Wedding this, wedding that, dress this, dress that. Can't they talk about anything else?

I ran my fingers through my hair and went back to my room. After I closed my door, I leaned against it and let out a long sigh. I really need to get out of here. This wedding talk is driving me crazy!

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and decided to call Sumire; she can act like a total bitch and all, but she's a great person to talk to.

After I pushed in her number, I pressed my phone against my ear and waited to hear her voice.

After some long seconds of waiting, I finally heard someone on the other side of the phone, _"I hope you've got some good reasons for calling me because I'm watching a damn good movie on TV." _

"Hello to you too, Permy," I greeted back, my forehead slightly furrowed.

"_Well? What is it?"_

I was silent for a moment; I didn't want to talk about it through the phone. "Uhmm…" I finally replied to her question. "Can you pick me up?"

It was silent on the other side now. _"… Can I ask why?"_

"I just need to talk to someone and I don't want to do it through the phone. So can you pick me up from my house?"

Sumire sighed. _"Alright, I'll be right there."_ And she hung up.

* * *

"Do I even want to know why you climbed out of your bedroom window to come here?" Sumire asked in a low voice as I closed the car door. Her green brows creased.

"I'm grounded," I replied, eyeing her. "Now drive before my mother notices something." Sumire sighed. She started the car and drove away.

"So," she started as soon we were a distance away from the house. "What did you want to talk to me about?" I was staring out of the window, watching the cars passing us. My eyebrows slightly frowned. "It's just driving me crazy,"

"What is?" Sumire turned her eyes to me for a moment.

"The fucking wedding! All of that talk about that stupid wedding. 'Wedding this, wedding that.' I'm fucking starting to get sick of it! I know it's special and important, but do they really need to talk about it _all day long_?" Sumire sighed deeply and shook her head. "Not this again…" I rolled my eyes at her. "What? Can't I voice my opinion?"

"Idiot, I don't know what's bothering you. Your mom is going to marry a rich dude who makes her _happy_."

I sighed. "I know all that. I want to smile and show her that it's okay and that I'm happy for her…but how the hell am I supposed to do that if I don't even feel that way?" I rubbed my temples, and groaned in frustration. "Ugh! The last three weeks of summer is going to be hell."

Sumire watched me from the corner of her eyes before she turned them back to the road. Soon her red lips curled up into a smirk. I noticed it. "What are you smirking about?" I asked slowly, not really liking the way she looked now.

"Looks like you need to have some fun tonight." She told me with a mischievous glint in her green eyes. I blinked before creasing my eyebrows. "What?" I asked. "Why?" This time my voice was slightly lower.

"To clear your mind for tonight, of course." She told me with her lips still smirking. I bounced up my eyebrow. "Right. Like…?"

"Going to a club should do the trick."

I widened my eyes at her. "Eh? Why the fuck do you want to do that? We're only sixteen! You could never get us there without IDs!" Sumire narrowed her eyes at me for being so loud. "Will you just stop shouting? I'm sitting next to you, for God's sake. I'm not deaf."

After she was done scolding me she ran her fingers through her green locks before placing them back on the steering wheel. "Anyhow, I'll make sure we get in the club." She said as her lips formed into a thin smirk again.

"How?"

"You'll see."

I rolled my eyes away from her, my arms crossed over my chest. "Right. Whatever, I'm not going anyway." Sumire raised her eyebrow at me. "I mean," I continued. "If my mother finds out that I'm not in my room, she'll kill me. Especially if she hears that I sneaked out of the house to go to a club with you. And besides, I don't have the right clothes for going clubbing right now."

"But I do," Sumire said easily. "So don't worry." She smiled at me before turning her attention back towards the road.

I frowned at what she said. "Those whore clothes? No thank you." I scoffed, turning my gaze back towards the window. "I'd rather go back home and listen to squealing ladies babble about wedding shit."

"And how're you going to do that? You're sitting in my car and I'm the one who's driving." She scoffed back.

"Then I'll just jump out of the car," I returned stubbornly, giving her a slight smirk. But she knew that I didn't mean it so she just grunted a small 'humph'. "If you do that, I'm just going to drive further and pretend like nothing happened."

When I noticed that that didn't work, I gave her my best pout. "Come on, Permy," I whined. Sumire rolled her eyes and shook her head. "That won't work, Mikan. Just give it up; we're almost at my house anyway. Just be a good girl and do what I say so I can pick out your clothes and do your makeup, alright?"

"Tch," I scoffed. After scowling darkly at her, I turned my gaze back towards the window. I saw her proud look in the reflection and it made me more annoyed than I already was. "Whatever."

Oh God, help me.

* * *

We stood side by side in front of the club with a giddy Sumire and an annoyed me. I glared at her because I just felt like it, especially after what she had done to me. I asked, "Seriously Permy, pray tell, how do you plan to get us into the club?" She winked. "Just wait and see. You know I'm too irresistible."

"Oh really? Work your magic, then." I told her with a smirk, knowing that there was no way she could get us into the club without any fake IDs.

She walked towards the scary-looking bouncer and smiled flirtatiously at him, batting her eyelashes. I sighed and shook my head at her in disbelief. Cue the gag.

The bouncer raised gave her a cold look. "What do you want?" Sumire twirled one of her locks around her finger and placed her other hand on her hip. "Well, my friend and I wanted to ask if you could let us in." She asked "innocently" and turned her gaze to me, giving me a quick grin to show me that her plan was going to work. I raised my eyebrow. I doubt it.

The bouncer turned his gaze to me for a moment before turning back towards Sumire. "No."

I sighed and Sumire gave him a disappointed look. She started to pout. "Why not?" The bouncer folded his arms. "You're too young." Sumire frowned at him. "Excuse me? We're eighteen!" He creased his eyebrows, obviously not believing her. "Really? Show me your IDs, then."

I hit my forehead. One word: _busted_.

Sumire's frown started to get deeper, not accepting the way it was going now. She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to come up with something fast.

I just stood there and watched with crossed arms. I didn't want to help her right now; it was her own fault and this was her punishment. Now I know what people mean about karma. It's a bitch.

Suddenly some people walked up to the entrance, ready to dance. They waited and the bouncer gave them a look to show their IDs and so they did. After he gave a good look at it them, he gave them a nod and told them they could go in. Not a second later they disappeared in the club.

Sumire scoffed. "And why can they go in while we can't?"

"They've got IDs," he answered her question easily. The green-haired girl only narrowed her gaze at him. Then two boys walked up in our direction. One had messy raven hair and beautiful crimson eyes while the other had blond hair and ocean-blue eyes that made him look really handsome.

I stared at the one with the raven hair as the two passed me, walking to the scary-looking bouncer.

Wait a minute. Isn't that… Natsume? What the fuck is _he_ doing here?

As Natsume and the other guy stood in front of the entrance and waited for the bouncer to let them in, Sumire eyed the two. Her orbs turned to the raven-haired male. A slight blush crawled over her cheeks and she tried to hide it by turning her head away.

The two lads didn't even show him their IDs; the bouncer just nodded his head so they could go in. When they just started to walk away, Sumire shifted her gaze at the two boys, shocked that they could just go in without showing their IDs.

She furrowed her forehead at the bouncer. "Wait!" she shrieked, having now not only the bouncer's attention. Oh God, what's she planning to do now? Her finger pointed at Natsume and his blond-haired friend. "We're with them!"

I slightly widened my eyes. We're what?

The blonde male blinked in confusion at what she said and Natsume lazily raised his raven brow at her. The bouncer started to get annoyed. "You're lying." He grunted in a low voice.

I glared daggers at the back of the curly-haired female, annoyed at what she was trying to do. If she continued this shit, we were going to get in big trouble. I sighed in frustration and walked towards them.

"Excuse me?" Sumire crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the man. "I'm totally—" She stopped as I placed a hand on her shoulder and turned to face me.

"I'm sorry," I apologized at the bouncer. "My friend here is sorta delusional—" But before I could continue, Sumire interrupted me, "Delusional?" She looked at me, offended. I just glowered at her that she needed to shut up, and that I'll handle this. I continued, "We're here with them; they're our friends and this girl here kind of forgot that I invited them."

The bouncer turned to Natsume and his friend and gave them a questioning look. "Is that true?" The blonde one blinked in confusion and eyed his friend, waiting for what he had to say to this. I turned my eyes to him too and hoped that he would just nod his head without asking questions. Natsume glanced over at his friend before turning his gaze to my direction.

And as soon as our eyes met… something felt strange. Something began to boil up inside of me that I never felt before… I blinked and snapped back out of my thoughts. I looked away from his gaze and furrowed my forehead at myself, confused at what just happened. Okay, what was that now?

"Yup," I heard suddenly. I looked back and only found him smirking at me with his crimson eyes shining with slight amusement. "It's true."

The blonde male stared at him, confused that he just agreed with this lie. "Really?" Sumire and I had the same reaction; we were surprised, of course. We didn't expect him to play along. We only thought he'd get us in the club. I actually expected that he would say no and go in the club himself. Although I was quite glad that he kind of helped us, but his smirk was giving me the feeling that I needed to watch out. It showed amusement yet mischievousness. It was like he was planning to do something, and I didn't like it.

I gave him a suspicious frown before the bouncer sighed and said, "Fine. Move along then."

Sumire sighed in relief. "Finally!" After she flipped her hair over her shoulder, we followed the two males into the club.

The club was crowded; the dance floor was filled with people and the bar was almost empty. There were only a couple of people sitting there who wanted to rest from dancing a bit. Natsume and his friend were already gone. We decided to order some drinks first before we would actually start the night.

After we settled down, Sumire ordered some coke for both of us right away. I didn't say anything. I just waited for it. When the glass was finally placed in front of me, I took some sips of it before placing it back.

I tucked some of my locks behind my ear before turning to Sumire and saw that she had already turned her attention to the dance floor. Her green eyes were fixed on someone, though I couldn't exactly see who.

Sumire licked her lips slowly. "He's so freaking hot. It's the same guy we saw yesterday." I raised my eyebrow but my eyes were still searching for who Sumire was looking at. It was hard with the big crowd moving so fast. "Who?"

"You know; that hot guy we saw in the café yesterday." She told me, her eyes still locked on that certain boy she was talking about. I widened my eyes when I remembered. Oh God, she was talking about Natsume. I grinned and glanced at her from the corner of my eyes. "Oh, you mean the hot guy you were eye-fucking?"

She scoffed, her forehead creased. "Hey, you were eye-fucking him too." I rolled my eyes away from her. "Whatever."

She jumped off her seat. "Anyway," she said, her face turned to me. "I'm going to have some fun." She winked mischievously and I knew what she meant. I chuckled, nodding my head as an answer. "Wanna come too?" I shook my head. "Nah," I replied. "I'll stay here and watch over our seats. You can go." It's too crowded there. If you take one step on the dance floor, I bet that it's just like taking one step in hell.

"Alright," and she was gone, disappearing in the huge crowd on the dance floor. When the DJ began to move over to some faster music, the crowd began to move faster and some even stopped dancing and went to the bar. They were probably tired and thirsty.

I was eyeing the dance floor and tried to find Sumire but I couldn't find her. I frowned, grabbed my glass with cold coke and finished it, ordering a new one right away.

While waiting I turned around and tried to find Sumire again. This time I had some luck; I finally found her dancing in front of Natsume who didn't look so happy. He moved away from her but Sumire just followed him with a bright smile. I saw that her mouth was moving, but of course I didn't hear her because of the loud music. Natsume was frowning deeply in annoyance and he still moved away from her every time she came closer to him.

After some minutes of playing cat and mouse, Sumire finally gave up. With a disappointed frown, she moved over to another random guy and started to dance with him.

I giggled, finding what just happened funny. Poor girl.

It was weird, but my eyes were still wandering to find Natsume and I couldn't find him. I sighed a short sigh and shrugged. When my drink arrived I turned around and reached out to grab it, but a hand snatched it away from me quickly, leaving me blinking in confusion. "What the—?" I frowned in annoyance and turned my gaze to the rude person, ready to scold him.

But I stopped as I found Natsume sitting on Sumire's chair with his elbow on the counter, his head leaning on his hand while he held my glass with the other. He looked at me with a lazy expression.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "That's my glass you're holding," I pointed out only to receive a raised eyebrow as his version of an answer. "Give it back." He didn't give it back though. I watched him take some sips of it.

I twitched my eyebrow at him, getting more annoyed. "You're going to pay for that drink," I said while trying to stay calm. He was obviously here to annoy me and he was successfully accomplishing his stupid plan. He noticed that too of course, because a smirk formed on his thin lips.

"You're an idiot," he told me bluntly, obviously not caring that I shot him a glare. "And please tell, what gave you that?" I asked him calmly, though my voice was starting to get lower. I rested both of my arms on the bar and looked at him from the corner of my eyes.

"With the bouncer and all," he told me and took some sips of _my _coke before placing it back on the bar. "I can't believe you were really trying to get into a club by flirting. How stupid can you be?" I looked at him, shocked. He saw all that? I slightly blushed in embarrassment before frowning at him and stuck my nose up in the air. "Tch. It wasn't my idea. My friend Permy dragged me here with that idea in her head. You need to call her stupid, not me you jerk."

He slightly bounced up his raven brow. "Who?"

"That green-haired girl who was following you; her name's Sumire, but I like to call her Permy."

"I feel bad for you for being friends with her," he told me with a low voice, finishing (now) his coke. I ignored it, deciding that it wasn't a big deal at all. I couldn't help to let out a small giggle at his comment. He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. "Nah, she might be a slob sometimes, a big fan-girl and all… but she's a really nice person when it comes to being friends." I blinked, shifting my eyes towards the dance floor. "Speaking of her, where is she?"

We both turned our gazes to the crowded dance floor. After some long time of searching for Sumire, Natsume suddenly said, "Poor Ruka." I raised my eyebrow and looked at him. "'Poor Ruka'?" I repeated. "What're you talking about? Who's Ruka?"

"He's that guy who was with me before. He's a friend of mine and I feel bad for him right now," he told me, his crimson eyes still turned to the same direction while his expression still showed nothing but dull and laziness.

"Why?"

"Because your friend's dancing with him." He pointed a finger to where they were so I could see them too. I followed the direction he pointed in and found Sumire dancing with that blonde guy Ruka who unlike Natsume, didn't have any problems dancing with her.

"Looks like he doesn't have any problems dancing with her."

"What an idiot," he commented back, and turned his face to the bartender, ordering a beer for himself. I raised my eyebrow in disbelief as the bartender just nodded his head and did what he was told. "Aren't you a little young to drink alcohol?" I asked the raven-haired lad as he ran his fingers through his locks.

"How old do think I am, then?" Natsume asked me, watching the bartender fill his glass with his cold drink. I raised my other eyebrow, and looked at him from head to toe. I slightly frowned and struggled with guessing. He looks like an eighteen-year-old… "Eighteen," I finally said, though not sure if I was right or not.

"Seventeen," he corrected me easily. When the bartender came back Natsume took it. I frowned at him suspiciously. "You're lying about your age just because you look older than you really are." He gave me a smirk. "Nope. My father runs this club so they know me here."

"Ah, so that's the reason why you two didn't show your IDs back then."

He nodded his head and took a sip of his beer. I shook my head and brushed my fingers through my hair. "And then why did you help get us in?" I asked all of a sudden. I still found it weird that he suddenly helped us. He put his glass down, his thin lips still formed into an amused smirk. "Because you looked like pathetic idiots who were about to cry."

I scoffed, glaring darkly at him. I wanted to shout at him but I kept my mouth shut. I turned my eyes away from him and grunted a 'humph' before saying, "You may be my soon-to-be step-brother, but you don't know a _fuck_ about me,"

He shrugged. "But I know that you like to dress like a whore." After receiving an angry scowl from me, he threw a wide cocky smirk back, his eyes glistening with nothing but amusement and mischievousness.

"Fucking bastard," I growled at the lad with a low voice, getting enough of him.

* * *

Three days has already passed and my Mom hasn't noticed that I went to the club with Sumire. After I climbed through the window to come in my room again, I removed my clothes and my makeup and changed into my pajamas. I literally ran to my bed and jumped into it before Mom came to check up on me. It was two AM and Mom's guests just left.

Aoi, my mother and I came out of Mom's car in front of a mansion-like house after we were done buying dresses for us bride maids. I widened my eyes in surprise. "Is this were you guys live?" I asked, turning my eyes to the crimson-eyed Aoi.

Aoi nodded. She smiled and scratched the back of her head, a little bit embarrassed about it all. "Uh, my father is rich. So, yeah…" I blinked and turned my gaze back to the mansion. "Whoah…"

My Mom, who was already heading towards the door, turned around and said, "Are you two coming?" We both nodded our heads and Aoi ran after my mother while I just took my time. I scanned everything around me, shocked and surprised how huge this place was. I never expected this…

When we stood in front of the huge entrance to their house, Aoi wanted to open it but stopped when we all heard voices; it sounded like it was coming from Nobuo who was scolding someone, "Natsume, don't smoke inside the house!"

"And you've care about that since…?"

"Yuka's coming soon and I don't want her to come into a house that smells like dirty cigarettes and smoke."

"Oh, of course, I should've expected this kind of answer."

"Natsume, I'm warning you. Go outside if you want to smoke, _now_."

"Tch. Fine, whatever. You're lucky that it's summer." The door opened and an annoyed Natsume passed us with his hands dug in his pockets.

Aoi sighed and turned around to throw a dark glare at his back. "You should be a shamed of yourself," she began with a low voice. Her brother stopped, turning around with his raven brow cocked up. "Don't you see that you're only hurting Dad?" she spat angrily. Natsume frowned at her; he was almost glaring before he turned around, shrugging. "Stop acting like a little-miss-perfect," he returned and walked away.

Aoi had her crimson eyes narrowed. "Fucking bastard…" I could hear her cursing under her breath before she turned her attention to Mom. Her expression changed. "I'm so sorry," she apologized, deeply ashamed of what just happened.

Mom smiled at her and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Don't apologize, Aoi. It's okay, really." I could see in Aoi's eyes that she didn't believe her, but she nodded her head anyway and smiled.

Then Nobuo appeared in the door opening with his lips formed into an excited smile as he saw my mother. "Yuka, darling!" My mother's eyes lit up as she saw her soon-to-be-husband. "Nobuo!" I twitched my eyebrow when Nobuo came to her with open arms; he looked like a little kid who was happy to see his parents again.

They kissed and I frowned in disgust while Aoi smiled at them; she probably found it romantic. Romantic? Ew.

I looked away from them, wanting to get away before I needed to throw up. My eyes fell on the crimson-eyed Natsume who was leaning against a tree not that far from here, with one hand in his pocket while he held his cigarette with the other. His eyes were turned to the sky.

I didn't know why but I wanted to go to him and so I did. As I came to him, his eyes shifted to me and his eyebrow rose lazily. "What do you want?" he asked in a low voice. I shrugged, not exactly knowing what to answer because I didn't even know why I wanted to. "Just wanted to get away from them," I decided to say instead. I pointed at our parents who just parted away from each other. Well, it wasn't actually a lie.

He shrugged. "Fair enough," he said before putting his cigarette in his mouth.

I eyed the burning cigarette and watched how he blew out the smoke. He probably noticed me because he said with an annoyed expression, "No," I blinked. "No what?"

"No, you can't have one. Buy your own."

I frowned at him and placed my hands on my hips. "Right. Like I want that. I stopped three months ago and I want to keep it that way, thank you very much." He smirked and flipped his messy hair backwards. "Hn, right." He put his cigarette in his mouth, and before I knew it he blew the smoke right in my face.

I closed my eyes so I wouldn't get it in my eyes but I still inhaled it. I bit my lip and opened my eyes, glaring at him as I saw that his thin lips were forming an even wider smirk. "Tempting, isn't it?" He threw the cigarette on the ground, mashing it with his foot to extinguish it. "Jerk," I only growled at him.

"There you are," we suddenly heard. I turned around and found a frowning Aoi standing behind me with her arms crossed over her chest. "Great, you again. What do you want now?" Natsume grunted as he folded his arms in front of his chest, his eyebrows creased. "If you're going to complain about Dad again, then you can fuck off."

Aoi narrowed her gaze at him. "Will you stop acting like a heartless bastard and just look at him?" Then she turned at me. "And you, look at your mother." I sighed and we glanced at them, only to see two smiling grown ups who looked incredibly happy to be in each other's arms.

They both looked happy indeed. So?

"Just look at them," Aoi continued as she turned her attention back to us and us back to her. "They look so happy when they're together. Do you really want to take that away from them? True, I'm struggling with the fact that my father suddenly loves an other woman who isn't my mother, but I'm glad that I can see my father happy again; that he's smiling again. You know how he was when Mom left us, Natsume. Do you really want that again?" Natsume only rolled his eyes as his answer.

"And I think that it was the same with your mother, am I right?" Aoi turned to me and waited for my answer. I nodded my head slowly, starting to think about what she said.

She sighed and brushed her fingers through her short, raven locks. "Do you really think that they would blow off the wedding and break their relationship with each other just because you guys don't agree with their love? If you really think that, then you're wrong. They won't do it, but the way you're reacting still hurts them. You could at least smile at them, hug them, and congratulate them or something like that. It doesn't matter how much you're against it, you could do that instead of this shit."

After she finished, she looked at us and waited for a reaction to what she said. After our silence, Aoi sighed once again. She tucked some locks behind her ears. "Well," she said, breaking the somewhat awkward silence. "That's all what I wanted to say. I hope you guys think about it." And with that, she turned her back to us and walked to Mom and Nobuo who were now talking to each other; probably about what Mom bought today for the wedding.

As she walked away Natsume sighed in frustration. "She's annoying," I nodded my head slowly. "You can say that again." I agreed with a sigh. Though, she had a point.

Maybe it was wrong for me to react so…dramatically when she told me that she was getting married. True, she admitted she was wrong by keeping it a secret from me, but it was also wrong for me to react that way. I also just could smile at her, hug her, say how happy I was for her because she finally found someone again and just scream at her from the inside.

I know that I was hurting her by my stupid reactions, but she was also hurting me by loving someone who isn't my father. … I guess that's the reasons why I was so angry at her, and the reason for my behavior.

I watched the two walking after Aoi who just disappeared in the door opening. They were holding each other's hands along the way, smiles still etched onto their lips. Watching them made me realize that they really loved each other, and that they really made each other happy. I guess that I just need to accept the fact that my Mom has finally found someone after those long years and that she's so sure about her love for him, just like it was with my Dad, that she's ready to get married.

Aoi was right; I'd thought that if I just would go on with this kind of behavior, my Mom would feel guilty about all of this and blow off the wedding and her relationship with Nobuo. It was sad, stupid, and childish; I know. I think I was just so angry at her that I didn't think straight. Not really an excuse, true. But at the look of it, I guess that I was just wasting my time.

* * *

U.P – *stares at the amount of reviews * 55 reviews.. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO DAMN MUCH! X3 55 reviews just when this story only has one chapter! And also the amount of alerts and favorites I received.. OMG, thank you guys so much! I never expected this, really! Thank you! *o*

Anyway, I'm really sorry that you had to wait so long before I'd return from hiatus and update my stories. I was really busy with making new oneshots, drabbles, stories and of course new chapters.. But, now I'm back and to celebrate that I'm _back in action_ I've decided to update this story first, because a lot of you readers were asking me when I'd update it and come back from hiatus, etc. I hope you all did enjoy this chapter. :)

Also, if you paid attention at the beginning of this page then you may have already noticed that _**Rekindled Moroseness**_ had decided to stop writing this story. It's a pity but, whatever. I'll still continue this story because one: I've got a lot of ideas for this, and two: I just like this story too damn much. xD

There may be some things that'd change, though. And that's the rating of this story. The rating is M which means that there will contain LEMONS in the up-coming chapters, and as you may know: I don't write LEMONS. So I was thinking of changing the rating into T… but I'm still struggling with it, so I want to have your opinion about it. I made a poll on my profile about this, so, if you got time, please vote. :3

Oh and if you wanna know stuff about my stories like sneak peeks, updates or other things then check my blog. You can find the link on my profile. ^^

Sorry for the ramble, I just wanted to tell you this. xD' Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please review and please don't flame.

Much love,  
Sam.


	3. Preparing the Last Things

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by – **Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

_"__Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter III – Preparing the Last Things-**

There was only a week left before the wedding. Yes, the wedding that I dreaded most and I wished I could just fast forward without needing to go through that day.

It was the day that my mother, Yuka, would be joined in holy matrimony with an old guy that I barely knew. Sure, he made an effort to get to know me better, but it failed completely. My Mom wants me to spend some quality time with him as well. So to encourage me to do as she says, she's giving me an iPod Touch. Tch, seriously: she's so wrong if she thinks that bribing me like that is going to work.

…

Alright, so maybe that worked a little. I mean, spending an hour with him in exchange for an iPod Touch wasn't so bad, really.

"So, uhh, what are your hobbies Mikan?" he asked nervously, scratching the back of his neck. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. Seriously, what did Mom see in this old guy? I knew that she loved him, that's why I was trying my best to tolerate him. And Aoi's speech opened my eyes… a little. Even though I understood her and could see that I was slightly wrong, that still didn't mean I would be all smiles in front of her father.

I shrugged, glancing up at the wooden clock that hung on the wall; there were only thirty minutes left. I sighed mentally. God, if you're there, _please_ make him leave now. I'm dying of boredom here.

"I like watching movies, you know. Uhmm… and fishing, sometimes. Do you like fishing?" he asked me. I turned back to him. "Not really," I told him. It was the truth: I really don't like fishing.

"Oh…"

Silence.

I watched him look around the room, and clear his throat. Obviously, he was trying to think of something else to talk about. I sighed. This is going to take forever. I started to think of how to end this so that I could finally go.

While he was still thought of what to talk about with a nervous face, an idea popped up in my head and a corner of my lip tugged. Maybe this would help.

"But," I started my sentence, brushing my fingers through my brown bangs as he turned his attention back to me. He waited for me to continue. "What do you mean, exactly, by 'fishing'?" Nobuo blinked for a moment. "Well… fishing. You know, catching fish?"

I crossed my legs and folded my arms over my chest. "Oh? I don't think we're referring to the same thing here," I said innocently. "Uhmm, what do you mean, Mikan?" he asked, somewhat perplexed. I grinned somewhat mischievously. "Haven't you figured it out from the first time you saw me? I was trying to give you a subtle hint about my part-time job; fishing for guys, of course!"

I said it all like it was the most normal thing in the whole world. He looked horrified; the color had drained from his face. I had a hard time keeping my face straight, but really, this shit was epic. "I… uhh… You… You're…?" Poor guy seemed to be at a loss.

This was, of course, a lie, which he luckily believed. It wouldn't take long for this conversation to end anymore. And I was right: after stammering, stuttering and doing other things he stood up, excused himself and disappeared through the doorway of the living room.

After he was gone, I couldn't take it anymore and laughed. Maybe it was a bit mean and unfair to do it, but damn, it was just too funny.

* * *

"What in the world did you say to Nobuo?" I quivered at Mom's loud voice and the furious scowl she was currently throwing at me. She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips, not very pleased.

I slightly frowned. Damn, that only happened an hour ago! Tch, he probably told her. "I don't know what you mean," I returned. "No?" she spat back, her forehead furrowing with even more anger; I could've sworn that I saw black aura leaking out of her body.

Great, there goes my iPod Touch.

"'Fishing guys'? Nobuo thinks that you're a skank for hire!" I heard her voice echo through the living room.

I cleared my throat, leaning my head on my palm and pressing my back further in the couch. From behind her I saw Aoi and Natsume silently watching us like we were some interesting movie or something. I creased my eyebrows at that; why the fuck is she scolding me here?

I turned my eyes back to her and scoffed. "That was just a little joke; did he really believe it?"

"Mikan Sakura," my mother called, her voice incredibly low of the fury she felt right now. She took some deep breaths to control her anger and calm herself down, before she continued, "Do you see me laughing?"

I raised my eyebrow. "No. So? I don't see the point in getting so angry. It was just a little joke, Mom. Jeez."

"You may see it as a joke, but I don't." She gave me a stern look. "You're going to Nobuo, apologizing to him and telling him the truth. Understood?" I threw her a soft glare. "What? Why do—?"

"Don't make me repeat myself, Mikan," she interrupted me. Her expression told me that I reached the line and wasn't far away from crossing it. I sighed deeply in frustration and nodded in defeat. "Alright."

Staring at me for a moment with the stern expression still on her face, Mom nodded her head and left the living room. As soon as she was gone I let out another sigh in frustration and rubbed my forehead. "Screw this…"

"You're an idiot, Mikan,"

I turned my gaze up towards Aoi who sighed deeply, shaking her head. "What?" Aoi crossed her arms over her chest. "When you finally got the chance to get to know my father better, you did this… You're unbelievable."

"It was just a fucking little joke, God. It isn't my fault that he believed it."

"You call that a joke?" Aoi raised her raven brow. I glared at her, having enough of this. "Fine! It was a stupid mistake to tell him that. Happy now?" The girl sighed. "That's already a beginning. Anyway, I heard from Natsume that you're getting an iPod Touch if you spend some quality time with my father so you'd know each other better. Is that right?"

I blinked at the question but then nodded my head, soon followed by a frown. I ran my fingers through my hair. "Well, I guess I can forget about that iPod Touch now."

Aoi stood up from her chair near the coffee table and tucked some locks behind her ear. "I'll ask." I looked up at her right away when I heard that and wanted to protest, but before I could do anything she was already gone.

I let out another sigh and saw from the corner of my eyes that Natsume had his eyes turned to me. I turned to him, somewhat scowling. "What…?" I almost growled. He cockily bounced up his eyebrow. "Why is my father giving you an iPod Touch..?"

"Not your father," I answered, crossing my legs, suddenly feeling tired. "It's my mother. My mother said that I get an iPod Touch in exchange for some quality time with Nobuo. She bribed me and I let her just because I wanted to have that thing."

I could sense him rolling his eyes. "Moron," I wanted to insult him for that, but decided not to. Just when I wanted to stood up and leave, Aoi came back and turned her gaze towards me. She crossed her arms. I blinked. "What is it?"

"Yuka said that you may forget about the iPod Touch." She told me easily. I twitched my eyebrow, slightly disappointed. "I thought so already." I said with a low voice. "You deserved it," she returned, a frown stickled on her forehead. "Maybe next time you'd know of what you're saying _and_ doing." I rolled my eyes at her. "I already said that it was a mistake to do it, didn't I? Now shut up about it, will you?"

Aoi shrugged, obviously still a bit angry at what I did. "Whatever you say. Oh and Dad is waiting for you in the hallway; so if you want to apologize to him, now is the right time to do so."

"Great…" I said between a sigh and she left to God knows where.

I looked at the raven-haired male who had his lips curved in an amused smirk, almost having the urge to laugh in front of my face. I narrowed my eyes at him, annoyed. "Don't you dare laugh."

Natsume cocked up his dark eyebrow. "Do you see me laughing then?"

"Not yet, no."

"Hn, it isn't my fault; it's funny."

I rolled my eyes away from him, crossing my arms over my chest. "So you enjoyed the show, I see?" His smirk slightly grew wider. "Yup." I began to glare. "Tch, why? What the fuck was so funny about it?" It was hard not to yell at him because of the anger and annoyance I felt.

He shrugged, flipping his messy bangs backwards. He was obviously enjoying this. "You failed; deeply."

I glowered at him with all my might; what kind of fucking bastard is he? I already knew that he was a jerk but now… Ugh, he obviously reached number one on my "People I hate" list.

I wanted to shout at him but I remembered that my soon-to-be step-father was waiting for me on the hallway, so I just grunted a loud and low 'humph', stuck my nose high in the air and ignored him while walking through the door way.

When I slammed the door behind me, I found Nobuo standing in the middle of the hallway, waiting for me I guess. He turned to me when he heard the loud noise I made and blinked. "Is something wrong?" he asked me.

I took in a deep breath to calm myself down and rubbed my temples with my two fingers. "No, nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

He raised his eyebrow at me suspiciously, before he shrugged. "If you say so. Anyway, I heard you wanted to talk to me," I gazed up at him and nodded my head a little. "Uhm… yeah, kind of, yes." I started a little nervously, scratching the back of my head. Nobuo only watched me, waiting for me to continue. "Well… about what I said to you earlier…"

"You mean, about your job being a street hooker?" he asked, elevating his eyebrow. I nodded my head, embarrassed. "Yeah. It was a lie… it isn't true."

"Yeah, I heard."

I blinked at him. "Y-you heard…?" Nobuo nodded his head, brushing his hands through his short hair. "Yes, from your mother."

"Oh…" I could've expected such answer, actually. Suddenly, his expression changed in hurt yet confused. "Why did you lie to me, Mikan?" he asked me. "If you didn't want to spend some time with me so we could know each other better, then you just had to say so." I bit my lip. "Yeah… maybe. But, you might've gotten angry, or something."

"No, I wouldn't. I would rather be disappointed, not angry."

"Like… now?" I asked with a soft voice, not making eye contact with him. Damn… I bet that I look like a scared little girl who's about to cry.

Nobuo sighed and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Disappointed, yes. Angry, no. But next time, please tell me the truth if you don't want to do something with me. Because this hurts me, Mikan, alright?"

I was silent for a while before I nodded my head, and turned to him. "Alright," I said with a slight smile. "I will. And I'm…" Here goes. "Sorry." Nobuo smiled back at me and patted me on the head, which surprised me a little. "Apology accepted," he told me and walked away soon after.

"Aw, how cute," I heard all of a sudden from behind me, and when I turned around I only found Natsume standing in the door way, his shoulder leaning against one of its sides. I stared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Watching how you looked like a little girl who was about to cry. But you know, my dad loves you." His expression was emotionless but his eyes were twinkling with amusement. I threw daggers of glares at him. "Never learned that eavesdropping is rude?"

Suddenly, his cold expression changed into hurt. I rolled my eyes away from him, knowing that he was faking it. "Aw, come on. Give me some fun, too. My mood is going below zero soon anyway."

"Because…?"

"I need to drive Aoi to Central Town this afternoon so she could 'help' me buy a fucking suit for the wedding."

I had a hard time to keep my face straight. "Like I care," I said in a low voice. "My torture has already ended; I wish you luck." Natsume gave me an annoyed look. "Funny," he said, his voice low of annoyance. "Anyway, I'm going to get a smoke." He fished out his jean pockets his little pack with cigarettes; I eyed it. "Want to come too?"

I turned my eyes back to the crimson ones. "You've got to be kidding me. Remember, I. Don't. Smoke." Natsume started to smirk at this. "I wasn't talking about that." I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling a bit stupid about what just happened. "Then what is it?" I asked, my forehead furrowed.

"I'll go anywhere; I just need to get out of here."

Although I was agreeing with him, I blinked. "But don't you need to go to Central Town with your sister?"

"It's almost twelve o'clock. We're going about three hours or so."

"And why me..?" I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously while he just stuck his cigarette between his thin lips. He raised his eyebrow at me. "You're a better company than my sister; you're amusing while she's plain annoying." He blurred out easily.

I scoffed, narrowing my eyes even more. "I take that as a compliment."

"Good," Natsume ran his fingers through his raven locks and passed me, heading towards the door. When he placed his hand on the door knob, he peered over his shoulder, shifting his dark orbs to me. "Are you coming or not?"

"Uhh…" was the only thing I replied, not really sure if I should go with him or not. "Going where then?" The male shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe to a café or something. Somewhere far away from here." I scratched my cheek, still wondering if I should go or not.

Natsume probably saw that because he tucked at a corner of his lip. "I know you want to," This time his voice was deep and soft. I gazed up at him and we looked at each other for a silent moment, before I presented a small smirk. "Fine then."

"Finally, an answer." He returned as he stepped outside with me following him closely behind.

* * *

"Oh, who's this?" asked Nonoko after she greeted me, her dark blue eyes turned to Natsume who just elevated his eyebrow lazily. Not long after that, Anna and Sumire popped up from behind her, their attention fully turned to him as well. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this, especially when I saw Sumire's face turn red in an instant, her green eyes widened.

Deciding to ignore this, I turned to Natsume and smiled. "He's Natsume Hyuuga," I told them simply as he just turned his head away, obviously not in the mood for this. Immediately the three girls started to giggle.

"Well," started Anna, smiling brightly at the lad. "I'm Anna Umenomiya and these two girls are Nonoko Ogasawara and Sumire Shouda." Nonoko and Sumire both said that it was a pleasure to meet him and, Sumire grabbed a dark green lock and twirled it around her finger flirtatiously.

I shot her a frown which she caught, and before I knew it she pulled me close to her.

"Isn't that the hot-looking guy from the club?" she whispered in my ear, her dark green orbs on Natsume who only got more annoyed with the minute as Nonoko and Anna tried to make a conversation with him. I blinked at her before I nodded my head. "Uh, yeah, he is."

Sumire stared at me with slight widened eyes. "You've got to be kidding me," she said as she let me go. I raised my eyebrow. "Well, he is."

She still looked at me like she didn't believe me. "How did you two meet each other? I mean… I can't remember seeing you two together back then."

"Well—" But before I could talk any further, I got interrupted by Natsume who, this time, was the one who pulled me closer to him and leaned his face near mine. "Why are we here again?" he whispered in my ear, grumbling; his warm breath made me shiver. I couldn't resist gulping and I quickly pulled away from him, trying to give him a stern look. "I need to ask them something about the wedding."

"And that is the only reason why we're here?"

I sighed. "God, you wanted to go somewhere so don't act so annoyed, will you?"

"Don't you know that this is a huge waste of my time?" he whispered back harshly, narrowing his crimson orbs at me. "I need to go here soon anyway with my sister. I actually could bring Aoi with me or just stay home."

"Hey, it isn't my fault; I got a text message of them as soon as we drove off. Which isn't so bad when I think about it. I wanted you guys to meet anyway."

"Not me."

"What does it matter? You'd meet each other anyway, sooner or later."

"Uhh… hello?" I heard all of a sudden and we both turned our attention to the group girls, who were probably watching us. Natsume and I both raised our eyebrows, wondering what they wanted. The dark blue haired girl scanned us before she cleared her throat, and shifted her gaze to me. "Mikan," she started her sentence. "Are you two… a couple?" There were hints of confusion heard in her voice; she probably wasn't sure of her question.

I gaped at not only her, but also the others who were also staring at us questionable. Did I just hear that right? Not really sure how to react to this, I managed to get out, "B-boyfriend…?" I hope she's just kidding.

I caught a glimpse of Natsume curling his lips up into a smirk and hned. "She wishes," I heard him saying and turned my gaze to him quickly. "What's that supposed to mean?" I spat. He shrugged, still presenting that smirk of his. "Nothing." He said shortly yet easily.

"You little—! You're giving them the wrong idea, Natsume!"

"So… you two aren't an item?" asked Anna, her pink eyebrow raised; looks like she wasn't quite sure if we were speaking the truth or not. I frowned at her. Placing my hands on my hips, I nodded my head a couple of times. "Yes," I returned. "He's my soon-to-be step-brother."

Silence.

I raised my eyebrow as I noticed them gaping at us in disbelief; especially Sumire who started to twitch with her eyebrow, almost dropping her jaw. "You've got to be kidding me…" she murmured some seconds later. Nonoko pointed a small finger at us. "You two are step-siblings?" she said, her voice a bit high.

Natsume shrugged, brushing his fingers through his raven bangs. "We couldn't believe it as well, but yeah." Sumire still stared at us in disbelief. "Are you two really… step-siblings?" Natsume shot her an annoyed glare. "Soon-to-be, yes. Don't make me explain how."

Sumire quivered a little at this. A bit embarrassed because of their reactions, I slammed my forehead, shaking my head.

Anna probably noticed this and laughed a bit in embarrassment. "Sorry, Mikan," she apologized, scratching the back of her head. "But we're so surprised about this because… well, we didn't expect this at all. Also, you haven't told us anything about it other than your mother is dating someone again and that there's a wedding." The two other girls nodded in agreement.

I nodded my head, before I realized something. "Oh, that reminds me: uhm... the wedding is in about a week."

The three females immediately widened their eyes again. "EH?" they almost yelled in unison. "Already?" I nodded my head, getting a bit annoyed at the thought. "Yeah…" I answered.

"Why are you just telling us now?" Nonoko crossed her arms, her dark eyebrows a bit furrowed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "But we were busy with it and stuff, and it was really stressful and… and I forgot, alright?" I tucked some locks behind my ear, continuing, "But I wanted to ask you guys if you want to come too." I ignored the glare that I received from the corner of Natsume's eyes.

Sumire grinned and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I thought you'd never ask." Anna nodded in agreement. "She's right; I actually thought you'd invite us right away when you knew that there was going to be a wedding." Nonoko chuckled and sat back down on her seat, ordering a glass of water.

I knew they were right, not that I was going to let them know that. "Funny," I finally said. "But are you coming or not?"

Nonoko chuckled, and together with the other two girls, she nodded her head, presenting me an excited smile. "Duh, of course!"

* * *

"Okay, who's coming again…?" started my Mom as she stared at the list of guests. I could see that she was slightly stressed. She mumbled the names under her breath, and then turned her gaze up towards me. "Nonoko, Sumire and Anna are coming too?" I nodded my head. "Yeah, I asked them two days ago."

Mom smiled at me before nodding her head. "I see," and with that, she turned back to the paper. She stayed silent for a while, before, "Then there are a total of… one hundred guests coming." I almost choked on my diet coke. "One hundred?" I shrieked. "But we don't even know that many people!"

My mother slightly sweat dropped, scratching the back of her head. "I know," she replied. "But don't forget Nobuo. And Natsume and Aoi of course; they invited some friends as well."

"Oh."

She put the guest list away and sighed in relief. "Good; there's nothing wrong with the guest list." Mom ran her fingers through her brown hair. "Now just the cake, which isn't done yet…" She sighed in frustration, getting more stressed than she already was. She cursed softly under her breath, a frown on her forehead.

"Mom, calm down," I said finally, placing down my glass of coke on the table. Mom sighed and nodded her head, massaging her temples slowly. "Yes, I know; I need to calm down. But it's just… it's hard to do all this and I'm afraid that something might go wrong."

I looked at her for a moment and I couldn't help but smile at this. "Don't worry," I said with a soft voice. "Everything is going to be fine. Besides, the only problem is the wedding cake and I'm sure it'd be finished just in time."

Mom presented me a small smile. "Yes, you're right. Thanks." I only nodded my head, watching her sit back and place her hands on her face before letting them fall to her sides. "Just five days, Mikan," she began, a beautiful smile presented on her face. "Just five days… and then it is finally time."

My smile wavered a bit at this.

She looked back at me, a bit excited. "Can you believe it, Mikan? Just five days and then our life will completely change!" I tried to gather up the smile I just presented her and nodded my head as my only answer.

My mother picked up the guest list, kissed me on the head, stood up and left me alone in the living room. Immediately my smile disappeared. I cleared my throat, staying silent and breathed in some air before letting out.

I bent over and picked up my glass of diet coke. "Just five days, huh?" I mumbled softly to myself, taking a large sip of my drink. "And then our life is going to change… for good." I took another sip of my coke and then looked at the can's reflection of me, seeing my deep frown and my lips twitching in a thin line.

Disappointment and sadness started to boil up inside me, which only made my frown deeper.

"But I don't want my life to change…"

* * *

U-P – This wasn't much; it only told you about the last things that still had to be prepared for the wedding and how Mikan's going to take all this. And as you could read, it's getting harder for her to accept the whole thing.

This is like a prologue to all the other future chapters, or something. Does that make sense..? o.o Whatever, as long as you enjoyed it it's fine by me. :)

Btw, do you all remember that I asked you in the previous chapter to vote for the rating of this story because I couldn't make my mind if I should change the rating into T or keep it M? Well, around the 30 people have voted! Thank you so much. :D I really appreciate it that people voted and helped me a bit.

40% have voted for the T, while 60% have chosen for the M. So, the winner is M. XD I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed; I see the M-rating for LEMONS and because of the fact that this story is not going to have LEMONS, I think it's a bit unnecessary to have it in M.

Though, you all have a point as well. The language is a bit over-used; a lot of bad words are coming in the chapters (mostly the F-word). So I just have to shrug and listen to you guys, and keep the rating into M. But don't forget that this story is _NOT_ going to have any LEMONS. I will go far with the love scenes, though, but not that it'll turn into a LEMON. And maybe I'm going to change the language a bit too, from now on. Less F-words. XD Ah well, I'll see.

Hope you all enjoyed reading this. Please review and don't flame.

Much love,  
Sam


	4. The Wedding

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by – **Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

_"Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter IV – The Wedding-**

"What?" I heard my mother scream, her eyes wide of anger and shock. I placed my book down on my lap and turned my attention to Mom and Aoi, who obviously didn't want to be there. "What do you mean there's nobody who can pick up the wedding cake?" she continued to scream at her soon-to-be step-daughter.

"Well… they had some problems back there and they said that they can't make it here." She told her carefully, wincing at the second ear full my mother gave her. I glanced at Natsume who was lying on the couch next to me. He was wearing earplugs from his iPod and had a manga on his face. It surprised me that he didn't hear anything of this; he was probably sleeping, that lazy bastard.

I frowned as my eyes fell on his feet. He sure was lucky that his stinking feet weren't touching me.

"But the wedding is _today_!"

I turned my attention back to my mother. Ah yes, that was right. In just about five hours Nobuo is going to be my step-father and Natsume and Aoi my step-siblings. I can barely believe that today is the day; the week passed by so quickly just when I wanted it to go slowly.

I must say, even though I wasn't the one who was getting married, I was pretty nervous.

I watched my mother rake her hands through her brown hair, turning back to the mirror where she was just busy with applying her makeup before she'd put on the dress. She was panicking and nervous about this day, and she was definitely scared that something might go wrong.

Mom closed her eyes and placed her hand on her chest, breathing in and out to calm herself down. After a moment, she reopened her eyes and stared at her own reflection, a frown appearing on her face. "What to do now…?" she muttered to herself, biting her bottom lip in a thoughtful way. "Nobuo isn't even here…"

Aoi heard her and crossed her arms over her chest, cocking up her raven eyebrow. "And even if he was, I'd kick him out. It brings bad luck, remember?" Mom turned to her with a bit of a sad look. "I know, but still… The wedding is in about six hours and I've got no idea where I can find someone so quickly to pick up the cake."

Aoi nodded her head in understanding and heaved a sigh, her eyebrows creased in concentration as she was trying to think of a plan to help my mother. I jumped, startled when her crimson eyes shifted to me and her brother.

Oh, no…

"They can pick up the cake." Aoi suggested, placing a hand on her hip.

Damn.

Mom turned around to look at both of us and a relieved smile made its way up her lips, nodding her head right away. "Yes, you're right. They can!" I immediately shook my head, obviously not agreeing with the whole idea. "No. No, we can't. Or at least, _I_ can't."

Aoi blinked at my reaction but Mom stood up while exclaiming, "Of course you can!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "It's not like you have to do something important at the moment, right?" I sighed, closing my book. "That's not the problem, Mom. The problem is that I don't want to pick up the cake with _him_." While saying the last word, I pointed to the person lying next to me.

Mom looked at me in a questionable way. "Why?" I rolled my eyes. She doesn't have a clue of how he is, does she..? "Mom, seriously: he's the _devil_." The only reply I got from her was a simple, confused, raised eyebrow which annoyed me a bit.

Aoi giggled softly under her breath before she sighed behind my Mom's back, and nodded her head. "Agreed." She simply said and headed to our direction. "But," she quickly added when she knelt down next to her brother, her eyes on him. "I've already lived fifteen years with him under the same roof, so _don't_ complain." After she said that, the girl removed the earplug from his ear, quickly leaned closer and screamed as loud as she could in his ear. "NATSUME!"

Aoi backed away just in time before he jumped up, his manga slowly falling on his lap. "What?" he reacted, having somewhat a startled expression written down his face.

I chuckled at this, only receiving an angry scowl back. "What are you laughing at?" he asked in a low voice, almost growling. I easily turned to him, still chuckling. "Your face, dearest Natsume. Your face." A low, threatening growl left his throat, but I only chuckled more, picturing his epic reaction.

Aoi let out a fake cough to get our attention back and brushed her fingers through her dark locks. "Natsume, while you were in your little world, Yuka, Mikan, and I decided that you both need to pick up the wedding cake." She pointed at the two of us.

I raised my eyebrows at this. "What? I haven't agreed with anything yet!" Natsume folded his arms in a nonchalant way. "And why do we have to pick up the cake in the first place? I thought they'd bring it here."

"They've got some problems. And because you two don't have any important things to do, you can go instead." Mom told him, her lip slightly tucked into a smile. Natsume raised his raven brow at her. "And we've got nothing to say about this?" For once, I agreed with him and nodded my head, waiting for what she had to say.

But before my mother could reply, Aoi glared darkly at us. "It's her wedding, for God's sake!" she suddenly snapped at us. "Don't you see that she just wants it to be perfect? And you know, without a cake there is _no_ wedding!"

Natsume frowned deeply at her but I just sighed, picturing the look my mother had when she found out that there was nobody to bring the wedding cake. I felt guilty, so I nodded my head in understanding.

"Alright," I sighed, getting a surprised look of both the siblings. "We'll pick up the cake and bring it to the place where the wedding is being held." I looked at Mom, who showed me a smile of appreciation. "Thank you," she silently said, hints of relief in it.

I smiled back at her, nodding my head twice. "It's fine." I placed my book next to me on the couch and stood up, walking to her as she sat down in front of the mirror again. Natsume scoffed at me in annoyance, his mood obviously starting to go bad. "Can't Dad pick it up or something?"

His younger sister threw him a stern glare, warning him. I turned around to face him with a nonchalant look. "I'm not a big fan of this either, but I'm bored anyway." I told the lad. "So come on and grab your car keys, or do you want me to grab them and drive instead?" I tapped my chin. "I don't think your car will last long, though..."

My lips twitched into a victorious smirk when the raven-haired male sighed deeply and got up. "Dammit… Fine." He grumbled under his breath and disappeared through the door way to get his car keys. Aoi and I both giggled. "Nice," she complemented, still giggling a bit.

Mom sighed and I turned back to her, seeing that she still had a bit of a troubled look in her eyes. My forehead creased when I realized that she still was a bit nervous and afraid. I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked at her reflection in the mirror. "It will be alright, Mom," I soothed her, smiling. "Natsume and I are going to pick up the cake and bring it to the reception hall, just like I told you. We _both_ promise that we'll be careful with it, so you just worry about your makeup and your hair, 'kay?"

Mom presented her smile again, only this time a bit wider, and nodded her head a couple of times. "Okay." I nodded and gave her a small kiss on the head before I went outside and got in Natsume's car.

* * *

"Don't touch anything," was the first thing Natsume said when we stepped into the bakery. I narrowed my eyes at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?" He brushed his fingers through his raven bangs before twitching his lips into a tight yet amused smirk, shrugging. "No reason."

I sighed deeply, biting the urge back to insult him right here and then and followed that bastard towards the desk. Natsume placed his arms on it casually, eyeing the one who stood behind it while I gaped at the delicious-looking cakes.

"Can I help you?" the cashier asked and Natsume stuffed his hand in his pocket and fished out a piece of paper that Aoi gave him just before he started the car and left. "We're here to pick up a wedding cake." He handed it over.

The man read it immediately, and a smile appeared on his lips. "Oh, of course! The wedding cake is all done. There were some problems though."

"We all know about that," Natsume returned, slight hints of annoyance could be heard in his deep voice. "Which is the reason why we're here." The cashier nodded his head quickly and cleared his throat. "Ah… of course. I'll go get it so you can meet me at the back of the bakery." And with that, he disappeared through the door that probably led to the kitchen.

I raised my eyebrow, not really getting why we had to go to the back of the bakery just to pick up a cake. "Why?" I turned to my soon-to-be step-brother, who turned to leave. "So it would be easier for us take it."

"Oh."

We went in his car and drove to the back to find the same guy outside next to a large, beautiful cake which stood on a small cart. I stared at it; this must be the wedding cake…

"Here it is!" he exclaimed as we got out of the car, my eyes turned to the white wedding cake: it had three big layers and was heavily decorated with hearts and bows, occasionally over a layer of marzipan. At the side of the cake there was a big, yellow ribbon made of marzipan. It was topped with a small statue that represented the married couple, which was surrounded by some hearts.

I unintentionally licked my lips at the sight: it really looked sweet and would probably taste incredible.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the man said suddenly and smiled at me; he probably caught me staring. I blushed a bit in embarrassment but nodded my head nonetheless.

"How much does it cost?" Natsume suddenly jumped in, his wallet already in his hands. The cashier shook his head twice. "No need. Your parents already paid for it." Natsume lifted his eyebrow but shrugged his shoulders soon after, mumbling something like, "More money for later," and put his wallet back in his pocket.

The cashier put his hands together. "So, should I help you with get the cake into the car?" Natsume nodded curtly as an answer and they grabbed at each side the cart, rolling it over towards his car. I just walked after them, not saying anything.

When they were finally finished, I thanked the cashier and we drove off, heading towards the church to bring there the cake, as promised.

"I wonder how my wedding would be like…" I muttered under my breath, staring through the window. I saw Natsume's eyes turning to me in the reflection. "You want to get married?" he asked me.

I turned to him, a bit surprised at the question. "Yes, of course! You don't?" Natsume shrugged and fixed his dark eyes back to the road. "'Don't know yet. Probably won't."

I raised my both eyebrows, bewildered. "Really? But a wedding stands for love; uniting with someone you love for the rest of your _life_. And you're telling me you don't want that?"

"Just to show how much you love each other? No."

"Because?"

"There are other ways. You can still love each other even if you're not married." I had to admit, he had a point. "Alright, fine," I gave in, crossing my arms over my chest, my eyes still turned to him. "But I think the best way to show your love for each other, to show that you want to be _a part_ of each other, is getting married."

Natsume rolled his eyes away for a split second, his eyebrows a bit furrowed. "Like I said earlier; there are other ways." I copied everything he just did. "Which are?"

"Sex."

I immediately narrowed my eyes at him; I had to expect this actually. "Sick pervert." Though, I couldn't help but continue arguing with him, "Sex doesn't always prove your love for each other, you know?"

"You think?" he returned cockily, placing his elbow on the arm rest of the chair. "But you're actually going in—"

"AHH! I don't wanna hear it!" I half screamed, knowing what he wanted to say, my hands covering my ears; I could feel a slight blush touching my cheeks. He twitched his lips into an amused smirk and I glared darkly at him. "Bastard." I insulted him before I said, "Ever heard of rapists? They just fuck someone to satisfy their needs. No love."

"Not all people are like that," he responded with a deep voice, one of his brows raised. I turned back to the window and leaned my head against it. "I know, but still."

The reflection of the window clearly showed me how he widened his smirk. "You _do_ know that we're talking about sex, right?" The blush that had just disappeared came back full force and I narrowed my eyes at him. "I-I started the conversation about weddings. Then _you_ came with 'sex is the best way to prove your love for each other', bla-bla."

"Hn," he sighed, his smirk brightening. "But _who_ commented?"

I stiffened, my face reddening even more: _burn_. It took me a moment to think of what to say to him; I refused to lose to that sick, perverted bastard whom I soon need to call my step-brother. "I-I hate you!" It was the only thing I could think of and I mentally hit myself.

Natsume looked at me sideways through his eyelashes, his raven brow lifted somewhat in a seductive way. "Likewise. And unfortunately for you, in about four hours you have to go through your life with me by your side."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, _goody_." Natsume chuckled at the sarcasm in my voice. "That's why I said 'unfortunately'."

I folded my arms in front of my chest, clearing my throat. "My life is going to be hell, isn't it?" He shrugged. "With me by your side? Probably." I narrowed my gaze at him. "You've known me for some months, so you probably already know what I'm capable of, am I right?"

Natsume stopped in front of the traffic light when the light turned red, and in a quick movement he leaned his face closer to mine, cupping my chin and pulling my face closer to his so that our noses were almost touching.

My heart beat sped up right after I felt his warm breath on my face. I looked at him owlishly. His eyes locked onto mine and I could see the mischievous amusement glistering in them, his lip curled up.

What the—?

"And pray tell, what would you do?" he started in a soft voice. "Are you going to wear that hot outfit again like you did earlier? If so, then only show it to me, maybe _then_ I can do something with it."

I swallowed away the huge lump in my throat, surprised and startled at the same time. "W-what...?" I breathed softly and couldn't think of something more to say.

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, his smirk fading. I swallowed hard, before forcing my eyebrows to furrow deeply as soon as a thought ran through my mind. "… W-what is this, flirting or teasing?" I blurted out before I could even stop myself.

Natsume's smirk went back his original, big shape again and he pulled away. Not a second later, the red light turned green and he drove further, his eyes back on the road; though, I could clearly tell that he was still watching me.

I waited for an answer, my heart still beating like crazy. "Well?" I pushed, furrowing a brow. Natsume shrugged nonchalantly. "What about…both?"

I groaned softly, not expecting that kind of answer. "You've got to be kidding me…" I mumbled, feeling a small blush creeping over my cheeks. He only chuckled slowly for a reply.

"You're unbelievable." I grunted, turning my head away from him. "Seriously." Natsume lifted his raven eyebrow and glanced at me. "Oi, give me a break. In less than four fucking hours it's going to be forbidden, so let me enjoy it until then, will you?"

I unintentionally giggled at this and Natsume shrugged a bit in a nonchalant way, while I nodded my head. "Right." I shook my head in disbelief and leaned my head back against the window. "Like I said earlier: you're unbelievable." I told him with a small smile attached to my lips.

* * *

"Ow!" I shrieked, grabbing at the painful spot and turned my head above and behind me to glare at Sumire. "Watch it!" Sumire shot me an annoyed look. "Don't complain! It's your own fault: you're moving way too much."

"That's because you're _hurting_ me."

"Those who want to be pretty need to go through some pain—" She pulled at some of my locks. "—_First_." I yelped in pain again and glowered at her the best I could. "Permy!"

"How many times do I need to tell you _not_ to call me that?"

"Ah! God, I can't believe I let you do my hair,"

"Suck it up. You'll thank me later when I'm done, because you're gonna be smoking hot." Her lipstick covered lips were curled up into a small smirk. I narrowed my eyes at her warningly. "Just so you know, we're going to a _wedding_, not a fucking night club."

Anna stopped applying her eyeliner and turned to us, shaking her head in disbelief while letting out a small giggle. "Girls, come on." Nonoko, who sat next to her on the floor against Sumire's queen-sized bed, put down her mirror and turned her attention to us as well. "Anna is right," she said, brushing her fingertips through her straight, dark blue locks. "You don't accomplish anything when you girls keep on fighting like that."

Sumire and I both sighed and nodded our heads at the two in agreement.

It was already a couple of minutes before two: only two hours to go and I will see my Mom and Nobuo put on their wedding rings. Anna, Nonoko, and I were at Sumire's house getting ourselves ready for it. Sometimes we glanced at the clock to see how much time we had left, and to be honest: it was going way too fast for me.

I flinched as Sumire pulled another lock of my hair down before her grip lessened; too bad I couldn't see what she was doing. I looked at the four dresses lying side by side on the huge, emerald-green couch, all four of them in a transparent, plastic bag for protection.

Anna had a white, tight, strapless sheath dress decorated with colorful flowers. Nonoko had a long, night blue flowing dress with thin straps that she had to attach to each other at the back of her neck, and one strap behind the middle of her back. Sumire had a long, dark green, glittered ball gown with nice pleats at the end that made the dress look even more beautiful. She also had long gloves that fit perfectly with it.

My dress, on the other hand, wasn't as beautiful as their dresses were. I wouldn't say it was ugly because then I'd be lying, but it was nothing compared to theirs. At least, that was my opinion of it. My dress was a caramel cream color, with a single, thick strap around the back of the neck, making it backless just like the others. It would just flowingly fall over my knees, the edges a bit curled up. Sumire also made me buy a stupid, thin scarf to make it complete.

To be honest, it made me a bit… embarrassed because I had to wear it in just less than two hours.

"So, Mikan," Anna took my attention while placing her mirror and her eye-shading brush back in the small box on the bed next to Sumire. She was probably finished with doing her makeup. And finally, she turned her head to me. "Who's going to be the maid of honor?"

I blinked.

Nonoko snapped her face to my direction. Still holding her mascara in one hand, she looked at me in pure curiosity. "Ah, yeah! Who Mikan? You, Aoi or someone else?"

I furrowed my eyebrows a bit at this and crossed my arms over my chest. "Both," I answered curtly. The girls both blinked at my answer and even Sumire paused with what she was doing to my hair. "'Both'?" she repeated.

I nodded and turned my head a little to the back so I could face her. "Yeah."

"Why?" questioned the blue-haired one while continuing with applying her mascara. I shrugged, my eyebrow a bit raised. "Because we both didn't want to be one; when Aoi was asked to be the maid of honor, she said that she didn't deserve it and declined. When I was asked, I just said no."

Anna rolled her sky-blue eyes at my past decision. "And why not?"

"Because of the 'think-of-a-speech' part…" My voice had some hints of annoyance in it as I pictured Aoi and me standing in front of the crowd, reading some shitty words off of a crumbled piece of paper to let everyone know that we approve the whole love thing between her father and my mother. I sighed mentally in frustration. "Either way, my Mom told us that we both deserved to be the maid of honor and it ended up like that."

Nonoko blinked with her long, black eyelashes and put away her mascara and her small mirror. "And you already thought of a good speech?"

"Ask Aoi."

Anna raised both her pink eyebrows at what she just heard. "You're dumping all the stuff on _her_, while you're in it _together_?" I frowned. "I wouldn't call it that…" I stopped and nodded my head nonetheless, my frown disappearing. "But yeah."

Anna and Nonoko threw me a disappointed yet angry look, but before they could even say their opinions, Sumire said calmly, "And I understand why."

We turned to her, all of us presented her a questioning look. Sumire raised her eyebrow back at us in return, her eyes first turned to the two girls who sat on the floor. "Don't you guys remember that she's not good at giving speeches, let alone _thinking _of one?" Anna and Nonoko turned their light orbs to each other.

"Maybe it's a good idea that she let her step-sister do all that stuff," She eyed me. "It would be a shame if one of the most important parts of the wedding got ruined, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at her while Anna and Nonoko just nodded their heads slowly in agreement. It was true that I wasn't good at speeches, but wasn't she going a bit far? "You're overreacting, Permy,"

"Seriously, I'm _not_." She continued with doing whatever it was she was doing with my hair.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance and everything grew silence as everyone continued with what they were busy with.

"Are you done yet?" I muttered to break the silence. I threw Sumire a frown as she pulled softly at some locks so they'd fall at each side of my face. Sumire hands disappeared and when I turned around, I saw her nodding. "Yup!" she chirped, presenting a proud smile.

I smiled not only in relief but also in excitement; I was actually pretty curious as to how it looked. "Alright! Let me get a mirror."

"No, you don't," The dark green haired female suddenly said and stopped me for getting off her bed. I shot her a confused look, my eyebrows both raised. "Why not?"

"I still need to do your makeup," Sumire responded, her arms crossed. "And it wouldn't be a surprise anymore if you already saw yourself."

My expression turned disappointed. "What?"

"O my God, Mikan!" squealed Anna and Nonoko at the same time after they stopped with doing each other's hair to pay their full attention to me. I gazed at them confusedly. "You already look beautiful," Nonoko told me while Anna nodded her head in excitement. They both had a wide, sweet smile on their lips.

I blushed and of course didn't expect those words. And it only got me more curious than I already was; I turned to Sumire, who smirked in triumph, her arms still in front of her chest. "This is totally unfair!" I almost yelled at her.

The smirk immediately disappeared, and an annoyed frown appeared on her forehead, her lips twitching into a line. "Don't fucking complain and suck it up, alright?" she snapped at me, her voice a bit higher than first.

I cringed a bit at her loud voice and threw an annoyed glare at her. "Don't you have to do your _own_ hair and makeup or something?" I asked her, my voice a bit softer. Sumire sighed deeply and ran her fingers through her dark hair. "I will do my hair and makeup when you change into your dress."

I had to resist the urge to sigh in frustration.

I watched her grab her small box with makeup, fish a black brush out of it, and hold it in front of my face. The usual small, mischievous smirk made her way up to her lips again, one of her eyebrows slightly raised in a cockily way. "Now, be a nice girl and sit _still_."

* * *

"Wow…" was all we could breathe in unison as we scanned the huge, and I repeat, _huge_ crowd that sat formally on their chairs in front of the altar. As they waited patiently for the wedding to begin, they talked to one another to kill the time.

"Do you know all these people?" asked Anna, turning her wide, pink eyes to me. I shook my head, not moving my eyes. "No… I don't even know the half of them." Sumire cocked up her eyebrow, eyeing me. "Then what are they doing here?" I put some stray locks behind my ear, blinking some times before I eyed the female, furrowing a brow. "Guess."

The three girls stared at me for a moment, deep in thought of _who_ I was talking about. The first one who found out was Nonoko. "Your step-father!" she exclaimed, holding her index finger up. I nodded my head, turning my eyes back to the crowd who didn't even notice a thing about us watching them from their backs. "I think there are also a lot of Aoi and Natsume's friends."

"Someone called?"

All of us turned our attention to the back and saw Natsume and Ruka arriving from around the corner; they probably just came in. They both were wearing black suits, only the difference was that Natsume only halfway buttoned it and didn't have a tie, while the other male wore his properly.

I raised my eyebrows surprisingly as I looked at the raven-haired one from head to toe, but as soon as my eyes met his gaze again I narrowed them, annoyed. "Oh, God no." I grumbled, my voice low.

He only raised a cocky eyebrow at me, his hands shoved into his pockets lazily.

"Oh, hi!" Sumire chirped brightly, her emerald eyes on my soon-to-be step-brother before shifting them over to Ruka; a smile was attached to her glittering lips. I narrowed my eyes immediately as she batted her long eyelashes flirtatiously. "Permy…" I whispered harshly at her, giving her a warning look.

But she, of course, ignored me and locked her eyes on the two boys standing in front of us. "I hope you still remember us," It almost came out as a question.

Natsume and I both sighed, yet he added an annoyed eye roll as he did while his best friend nodded twice, smiling sweetly. He put his hands in his black pockets. "Yes," he started his sentence, his full attention on Sumire. "Of course I do." His expression slowly changed into confusion as he darted his calming, ocean-blue eyes to the two silent girls. "I don't remember if I ever met these cute girls, though."

The two giggled immediately in unison, glancing at each other while a blush came across their cheeks. Ruka smiled immediately and his blonde eyebrows rose invitingly as Nonoko shyly took a small step forward. "M-my name is Nonoko Ogasawara…a-and this is Anna Umenomiya." She pointed at the wavy-haired girl behind her.

I shook my head at this: awesome introduction, girls… Sumire just giggled amusedly at the entire exchange.

Ruka's smile only grew wider, his eyes glistening. A small chuckle escaped his lips before he said, "I see. My name is Ruka Nogi. Nice to meet you two." And as handsome as he could be, he bowed politely at the two. The other two females dreamily muttered, "Nice to meet you too."

I slightly jumped, surprised as his eyes suddenly turned to me, his smile attached on his lips. "And you must be Mikan Sakura," I raised my both brows. "Natsume's soon-to-be step-sister, correct?"

I smiled at this and nodded my head. "So, it looks like I'm already pretty known, huh?" I threw a quick glance at the other male who just shrugged, raising his eyebrow in the universal "what?" expression. Ruka straightened his back and let out a small chuckle before he made his way to me. "A little bit."

I thought he wanted to shake my hand so I held it up, waiting for him to grab it. I stiffened in surprise instead when he gently grabbed my hand and kissed it softly.

I felt a blush touching my cheeks, swallowing as I stared down at him while he just looked back at me with a calm expression written all over his face. "Nice to meet you, Mikan." He said nicely. I nodded my head slowly. "Y-yeah…" was all I could manage. The other girls just stared at us in surprise.

"Ah, finally! You guys are here."  
We all turned around to face Aoi walking to us, an excited smile seen on her face. She had made her hair wavy and let it loose so it could fall perfectly down her shoulders. She was clad in a long yet tight, plain ocean-blue dress that reached down to her ankles, and her shoulders were covered by a scarf the same color as her dress. She really looked beautiful in it.

When she stood in front of us, Aoi turned her crimson eyes to me, Sumire, Nonoko, and Anna and widened her smile sweetly. "You all look beautiful," We smiled back at her. "You look beautiful, too." Nonoko complimented back, putting some stray locks behind her ear.

Her attention shifted from us to her big brother, and her expression changed into annoyed, her lips twitching into a line. "You can't be serious…"

Natsume raised his eyebrows at her in a cocky yet confused way, and looked at what he was wearing. "I'm wearing a suit, aren't I?" Aoi placed her hands onto her hips and sighed deeply. "Yes, but the _way_ you're wearing it."

The male shrugged nonchalantly, digging his hands back into his pockets. "I hate ties."

"So you can't even wear them for just… _one_ fucking day?"

Natsume rolled his eyes away in annoyance. "You know that I hate wearing suits. Just be glad that I'm at least _wearing _one." And with that said, he walked away, calling Ruka to come with him. As he passed his sister, the two siblings shared an intense glare before Natsume removed his gaze from her and fixed it onto where he was going.

Ruka sighed and just decided to do as his best friend said. When he passed Aoi, he presented her a smile and the two greeted each other nicely. As the two males disappeared from our sight, Aoi turned around to face us again and she turned her attention to me. "Mikan, can you come with me for a second? I'm done with the speech and I want to know your opinion of it."

I slightly frowned. Of course; I almost forgot; the speech. Why did we have to do one anyway? I mean, I already stopped throwing tantrums about this shit, wasn't that already enough proof for accepting this whole marriage, or what?

I deepened my frown and opened my mouth to protest, but Sumire, who was watching me closely, placed her hands on my shoulders and quickly smiled at Aoi. "Of course she wants to come with you, Aoi!" she began, ignoring the annoyed scowl I was throwing at her from the corners of my eyes. "Right, Mikan?" Sumire turned her eyes to me, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

Annoying bitch!

"Fine," I grumbled, letting my (_supposed to be_) best friend win. Aoi smiled. "Thanks! Now, come." And with that, she grabbed my hand and tucked me with her. When I peered over my shoulder to look at the other females, Sumire waved at me with an amused smile on her face. I narrowed my eyes at her dangerously: she was way too happy if you asked me.

At last, Anna stopped her and while giggling, I could still hear her say, "Don't be so mean, Sumire." In the meantime Nonoko told me that they were going to look for some seats and they walked away after waving goodbye.

Aoi opened the door to a… room I didn't know of. I looked around when my soon-to-be step-sister let me go. This was probably some sort of meeting or waiting room.

Before I even could turn my attention back, the raven-haired girl held a paper in front of my nose. "What's this?" I asked, slightly bewildered.

"The speech," she responded. "Now, come on; read it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Calm down, will you?"

I sighed as I took the white paper in my hands, and started to read the words written on it. It was pretty long and when I was done reading, my eyebrow started to twitch. "Aoi…?"

"Yes?" Her voice was high and she looked at me with full curiosity. "This isn't a play." I told her bluntly, my voice low, as I glanced up from the paper. She blinked her shining crimson eyes before she tapped her chin in a thoughtful way, her other hand on her hip. "Ah, true. But wouldn't it be more interesting?"

I cocked up my brow at what I heard. "Interesting? We only need to say that we approve of this wedding and then we're done!" Aoi frowned. "Maybe that's your way to say speeches, but not for me. It's blunt and I don't want that for our parents' wedding. We'll just do this, alright?"

I was obviously not glad and furrowed my eyebrows in disappointment. "Why?"

"Because we don't have enough time to change it, so don't complain."

I presented her a pout before I rolled my eyes and gave in. "Fine," I grumbled. "Whatever you want." Aoi smiled at me in triumph and took the paper back. "Good."

I scowled at her in annoyance. "Annoying bitch." This made her annoying smile disappear and an angry glare appeared. "After everything that _you_ did, you've still got the _nerve_ to call _me_ a _bitch_?" I only darkened my look. "Will you just forget about that?"

"Why? It's the truth, isn't it?"

"So?" I snapped back, my eyes narrowed. But soon I let out a sigh in frustration, and rolled my eyes away from her. "God, whatever." This really wasn't the time to set up a fight with her. "Let's continue this later when this wedding is over." Aoi sighed as well and rubbed her temples, nodding her head soon after. "Agreed."

I tucked at my lip corners for a second and folded my arms around my chest. "So, tell me, where's Mom?" She blinked before pointing a small finger at the door near me. "Uhh, she's probably in there."

I raised my eyebrow as I turned to the door. What was she doing there? I opened it and walked into the room, finding my mother sitting in front of the mirror, staring at her own reflection with a smile. She was already wearing her wedding dress and she really looked gorgeous. It looked like she was really ready to get married.

She blinked as she saw us in her reflection and her smile widened as she turned around. "Aoi! Mikan!" I just smiled while Aoi squealed at her and walked around me to hug her tight. "Yuka! Oh my God, you look beautiful!"

My Mom blushed at her words, and chuckled. "Thank you." She turned her amber eyes to me and gave me a questionable look, as if waiting for something. I blinked before I got what she meant, and I sighed. "Little-miss-perfect here is right," I smiled at her, placing my hands on my hips. "You look beautiful, Mom. Really."

She smiled at me with one of her angelic smiles and hugged me. "Thank you so much, Mikan." She whispered in my ear. "No problem," I whispered back, and she let me go.

"Well? Are you excited?" Aoi chirped, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just ten minutes to go, you know?" My Mom nodded, clasping her hands against each other. "I know. I'm really excited about what's going to happen. I hope nothing will go wrong…"

Her soon-to-be step-daughter cocked up her eyebrow. "'Till now, everything has gone perfectly. So what can go wrong now?" Mom nodded her head at her in agreement, sighing in relief. "You're right," she responded. "I'm sorry; I'm just so nervous and excited."

"Ah, no problem! It's understandable after all." I nodded my head twice, but stayed silent; they probably didn't know that she could fall over her own dress because of how nervous she was…

* * *

Everyone watched closely as Nobuo answered the question the priest just asked him and faced my mother with a sweet smile.

"Then you may kiss the bride."

Nobuo quickly pulled Mom to him and they finally kissed, and soon the whole room was filled with cheers and claps of their friends and family. I sighed, finished with clapping and crossing my legs. Finally, it was over. That priest sure took his time, didn't he?

I stood up and turned to Sumire. "So, what's next?" She tucked some stray hair behind her ear and placed one hand on her hip. "The reception, of course."

"Where you have to do your _speech_." Anna butted in, giggling in amusement. I sighed deeply in frustration. "Great," I grunted, my voice low. I _so_ wasn't ready for it… God, why did I have to be the maid of honor?

"Alright, everyone!" My mother yelled all of a sudden and everyone settled down, their attention on her. "If you want to party, follow us!"

With some cheers, everyone agreed and followed the newlyweds to a big room at the back of the church, where the reception was going to be held. I protested when Anna and Nonoko grabbed my hands impatiently, tugging me along with them, while Sumire followed closely behind, enjoying the sight of them ignoring me while I was busy yelling to let me go.

As we reached the room, the twins let me go and twirled around, gaping at how once again this place was so huge. How could one church have a sanctuary so huge and then a room behind it this big? "It's so big!" Nonoko commented excitedly, while the other just nodded in agreement, looking at the decorations. "Really beautiful!"

"Is there going to be a band?" asked Sumire from behind me. I turned my eyes to the stage, blinking. "I have no idea… Probably."

"Mikan," Anna called, her sky-blue orbs on the stage. "Is that where you guys are going to do your speeches?" I glanced at it, sighed and nodded my head a bit in disappointment. "I guess so."

"What about Natsume?" questioned Nonoko all of a sudden, blinking with her long eye-lashes. "He's Nobuo's son, right? Isn't he going to be the best man?"

I stared at her for a moment before twitching my lips into an amused yet mischievous smirk, remembering. Ah, yes, that's right: Natsume's father made him the best man, to his dismay of course. I remember that they'd had a huge argument just because of it. And unfortunately for the lad, he lost. I shifted my eyes around, looking for him. "Yeah," I said absently while scanning every small group of people that was here.

I smirked even wider when I finally found him standing against the wall not far away from us; he was lazily leaning against the wall for support, one hand shoved in one of his pockets while holding a glass with the other. Ruka stood next to him, his shoulder leaning against the wall, talking to his friend and taking a sip of his drink in between words.

Without saying anything, I headed towards them and as expected, the three females all looked at me in confusion and asked me where I was going. When I didn't answer, they decided to just follow me.

As we managed to get through the crowd, we reached Ruka and Natsume. Immediately they shot their attention to us. As Natsume's crimson eyes reached me, he cocked up his raven brow and slowly took a sip of his drink. "No, I don't want to dance with you."

I narrowed my eyes at him in annoyance to his sudden statement. "Excuse me?" He lowered his glass. "That's what you came here for, am I right?"

"No!" I spat, my arms crossed. "And besides, there isn't even any music yet."

"Then what do you want?" His voice lowered a bit, taking another small sip of his alcohol-filled drink. I twitched my lips back into a smirk, placing my hands on my hips. "You do know that the _best man_ needs to give a speech, right?"

Natsume frowned at me. "And you do know that the _maid of honor_ needs to give a speech, _too_, right?" I cocked up my eyebrow, but my smirk remained. "I know. But _I've_ already thought of one," Actually, Aoi did… but whatever. I was only there to annoy him a bit. What? I need some amusement once in a while, too, you know? "What about you?" I crossed my arms over my chest, giving him a suspicious look. "Or are you going baffle them with your looks?"

He shot me a smirk. "Good idea. Maybe that'll work, too." Ruka chuckled at what he said, and the other three girls just stayed silent, watching the show. I shot him an annoyed frown and rolled my eyes. "You're unbelievable."

Natsume widened his smirk as he noticed he started to get me annoyed, when _I_ was the one who was trying to annoy _him_. "It's cute how you get all worried about me." I stared at him disbelief: what did he just say? "What?"

His crimson eyes twinkled with evil amusement. "You heard me." I twitched one of my eyes. He's fucking unbelievable!

I narrowed my eyes angrily. "Bastard! What's that supposed to me—?" But before I could finish, Aoi popped suddenly out of nowhere and grabbed my hand. "There you are!" she chirped at me, excitedly. "It's time for our speech." Uh-oh. I already started to get nervous about it. "W-what?"

Aoi turned her crimson eyes to her brother and grabbed his free hand. "Same goes for you, Natsume," she told him, and before he could say anything, she pulled both of us with her, pushing her way through the crowds to the stage.

We finally reached the stage and got on it. The raven-haired female slowly walked to the microphone while her brother and I just stayed silently on the background. I scanned everyone in the room and noticed how many people there were. I gulped; this _wasn't _helping...

Aoi tapped on the microphone a couple of times to gain the attention from all the people here. And after some seconds, she got it. She smiled as all the eyes were turned to her and looked around, probably trying to find the married couple. When she finally found them, her smile widened. She turned around, grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to her so I'd be standing next to her.

"Do you remember the speech?" she whispered, placing her hand on the microphone. I blinked at her question and tried to ignore the looks as best as I could. "W-what..? No, not really…"

"I told you that you had to learn it," she hissed, annoyed. I threw her a frown. "No, you didn't."

"Oh, but isn't it obvious that you had to learn it when I _showed_ it to you?"  
"Of course not!"

We paused and turned to the crowd who started to chuckle softly; the microphone probably caught all of it, and we both blushed in embarrassment. Oh, God, not now… Aoi tucked her stray locks behind her ear. "Alright, you're going to start this." I stared at her in disbelief. "Excuse me?" She rolled with her crimson orbs. "Come on,"

"But—"

"I'll think of something. Just do what I say, alright?" I sighed deeply in frustration and cleared my throat. As I thought of something, I leaned closer to the microphone and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are all here today to acknowledge…" That is all what I could think of, straightened my back and glanced at Aoi nervously.

But to my surprise, Aoi smiled, nodded at me to soothe my worries and leaned closer to the microphone to say her part, "… That her mother finally admits that she, Mikan here, actually has _honor_! You know, because she's the maid of honor. Hmm, but I think I've got more honor than that girl here. I mean, since she totally dressed and acted a certain way for her mom to think otherwise. Really, I wonder what changed her mind." Aoi tapped her finger on her chin, faking like she was in a deep thought.

The crowd chuckled and I narrowed my eyes at her. "Would you just forget about that?" Aoi raised her eyebrow at me and crossed her arms over her chest. "Seriously, if I could, I would've already done that." The crowd laughed even more.

"And _moving on_," I continued with this weird speech as I thought of something to stop this embarrassing subject, my forehead furrowed in annoyance. "Uhh… We're all here because her dad and my mom have both helped each other through the aches and pain of life—"

"—Or more specifically, the aches and pains of dealing with her and big guy over there," Aoi quickly interrupted with a small smile and tilted her head towards Natsume who's smirk faded away and quickly looked away, grunting a soft 'humph' under his breath. She turned her shining crimson eyes back to the crowd. "Believe me: it takes true love to willingly go through _that_." And again, she made the audience laugh.

I placed my hand on the microphone and pulled her closer. "What do you think you're doing?" I hissed darkly into her ear, my eyes narrowed. I could sense her blinking somewhat in confusion. "What do you mean? I'm doing the speech, aren't I?" she whispered back. I nodded curtly. "Yes, but you're giving me a bad name here."

"The humor is only to make it easier for us. And they're enjoying it, aren't they?"

"That's the problem."

Aoi sighed, gently shoved me away and faced back the audience. "Our parents have decided today, to solidify that true love so that everyone can see. And in doing so, they brought us all together," She quickly linked her arms with mine. I raised my eyebrow at her in surprise, not expecting this.

"Come on, say something," she whispered quickly, her lips turned into a smile. "Like…?" I questioned her as I couldn't think of something to say.

"Just think of something."

"Uhh…" I bit my lip and after a long moment, I finally thought of something to say, licked my dry lips, cleared my throat and said, "Uhh.. b-before, God knows we didn't _want_ to be together, but… seeing more of them together and seeing everything that's happened here today during that ceremony… uhh, that's, all changed. Now, we all hope that through the years Nobuo and Yuka will stay together and keep on helping each other, because those two… make each other happy. It's clear as day and you can visibly see it on them. And when you really make someone that deep-down happy, that's when you know that they're in real, true love. That kind of love is contagious and, I think, even makes other people want to stick together and get along too."

Aoi nodded her head and tightened her arm-hold. "Like us." I gave her a surprised look, my eyebrows raised. "'Like us'?" I repeated her words. She eyed me. "Yup, like us."

I turned to back to the audience and nodded my head slowly. "A-ah.. Yeah…" I searched for my mother and Nobuo and when my eyes finally found them, I tucked at the corners of my lips. "You two keep on loving each other, because that's what'll keep you and everyone together through all the years."

We both took a step back from the microphone, and soon the audience gave us a loud applause. I sighed in relief as I walked towards Natsume who'd waited patiently for his turn. "I thought it'd never end," he commented calmly, lowering his glass. I threw him a small glare. "Shut up, like you can do better."

"And now," Aoi started her sentence as the audience stopped clapping. "Some words from my older brother, the best man."

Natsume sighed as the crowd began to clap, waiting for him to come. "Good luck," I told him softly, my lips turned into a smirk before he made his way to the microphone while his sister came towards me.

There was a moment of silence before Natsume flipped his bangs backwards lazily and finally parted his lips, "We're here because they wanted to show their love and got hitched." He raised his glass. "To Nobuo and Yuka."

Aoi and I both blinked as we heard his… "speech". "That's it?" Aoi asked as we both watched everyone raise their champagne glasses and turn to where my mother and Nobuo were standing. "A speech that we'd never forget," I told her, shaking my head, before the huge crowd shouted in unison, "To Nobuo and Yuka!"

* * *

Soon after the speeches were done, the band came on stage and started to play, and everyone started to dance. My mother danced with Nobuo of course, Ruka with Aoi and Nonoko, Anna and Sumire each danced with some random guy. I just stood there against the wall with a champagne glass in my hand, watching everyone dance.

I took some sips of my drink and blinked when I saw Natsume coming my way. "What do you want?" I asked dryly, expecting a stupid insult. But I was wrong: he gently held his hand out, giving me a real smile instead of a smirk. "Wanna dance?" he asked me calmly.

I gave him a surprised look, but a small moment later I presented him a small smile and nodded my head. "I've got nothing to do anyway." And with that, he took my hand and after I put down my glass on a random table, he gently pulled me towards the dance floor.

We danced in silence, though our eyes were locked onto each other. Soon, I giggled and turned away, which made him raise his eyebrow in confusion. "What is it?"

I shook my head and looked at him from the corner of my eye. "It's nothing. It's just… weird to see you so close." He looked at me, before twitching his thin lips into a small smirk. "Is that so?" I rolled my eyes and frowned. "Don't get any ideas, Natsume."

"Don't worry, I won't.

I looked through my eyelashes and saw Mom and my step-father dancing not far away from us. They looked at each other with clear love, leaning their foreheads against each other while mumbling something that made them both laugh. And soon, they kissed.

"Doesn't it feel weird to see them like that?" Natsume muttered all of a sudden under his breath, also watching them. I nodded my head right in reply. "Yeah. I'm not used to seeing my mother with a man that isn't my father…"

"And I'm not used to seeing my father with a woman who isn't my mother."

I softly bit my lip, and sighed deeply. "But what can you do about it?"

"Did you accept it?" I faced him again. His forehead was creased questioningly and his lips were turned into a thin line. It took me a while to find an answer to his question. After a moment, I shrugged. "I don't know," I answered honestly. "But I think I just_ have_ to accept it, don't you think? I mean... we did a lot of things just because we didn't want them to get married, and it didn't work at all." Natsume nodded his head curtly in agreement.

We turned back to our parents and I couldn't help but tuck at the corners of my lips at the sweet sight. "They really do love each other…it would be bad if we tried to break that."

"So you're going to accept this?" Natsume asked me again. I looked at him. "Do you?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "Like I said, I'm not used to see my father with a woman who isn't my mother. I think it wouldn't be an easy task to get used to that and all the changes that are going to happen."

I nodded my head in agreement, but smiled nonetheless and gazed at our parents one more time. "But… we can at least try, right?"

* * *

Sam – The fourth chapter already. I'm so proud! :D This chapter is all about the wedding, and as you could read: Mikan and Natsume are, even though it's not an easy task for them, finally trying to accept it, although they don't know yet what kind of problems they're going to face soon.

And _yes_, the two are getting closer and closer..~ x33

Ohh and btw: if you find something that doesn't make sense about the wedding.. please ignore that. I've never been to a wedding because I'm not a really big fan of them. I believe I've been to a wedding.. two or three times, and that was when I was only four or five years old. I'm eighteen now, don't think I still can remember those weddings. ¬¬

Please review and don't flame.

Much love,  
Unknown Pain


	5. A Great Start

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by –** Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

"_Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter V – A "Great" Start-**

I pressed my face into a red towel after I finished washing my face to remove the amount of makeup Sumire had let me wear. Wiping some mascara from my left eye, I stared at the mirror when I placed my hand back down.

I couldn't believe that we'd stayed there in the church till after midnight. When it was around two o'clock, I decided that it was time to go home and left with Sumire, Anna, Nonoko, Ruka, Aoi and Natsume, leaving Nobuo and my mother behind.

I had to admit, the wedding and all the other things weren't as bad as I'd expected, and I was pretty sure that I was not the only one who thought that. I started to smile: even dancing with Natsume wasn't hell; it was nice talking to him and it gave me a warm feeling that he felt and thought the same way about the whole thing as I did.

I sighed and brushed my fingers through my stray locks, removing the soft-orange ribbon that kept my hair up.

Now that we were officially family, the changes were _really_ going to begin, and they've already started: Mom sent me to the same school Aoi was going to. Sumire had said that it was a rich, formal school where only the wealthiest students could be found.

Not only that: we now lived in the Hyuuga household too.

When I thought about it, it actually felt weird that this was all was happening to me. I mean, going to a rich school when you're not even rich and you don't know anyone, besides Aoi. Sleeping in someone else's house…

I walked out of the bathroom, turning off the light.

It's not like I didn't want this to happen or something; I said that I was going to accept the changes no matter what, but to be honest: it's hard.

I sighed again as I walked down the hallway. I probably just needed to get used to all of this, but how long was that going to take?

"Oi."

I jumped, startled at the sudden voice and quickly turned around to see Natsume leaning against the wall, one foot leaning against it while he had his arms crossed. He looked at me sideways through his eyelids, his expression still emotionless as ever.

We looked at each other for a small silent moment before I narrowed my eyes at him in irritation. "Are you always spying on people?"

He nodded sarcastically, still presenting his poker-face. "Don't you like it?" I shook my head, my amber eyes still narrowed. Natsume shrugged at that. "Whatever. You know that school starts at 12 PM tomorrow?"

I gave him one nod as an answer; thank God for that. "You're not going…?" He shook his head. "I already graduated."

"Oh, yeah…"

Natsune suddenly began to narrow his eyes at me suspiciously, shoving his hands into his pockets. "What… do you think of the whole 'changing schools' thing…?"

I blinked at the sudden question, but shrugged nonetheless. "It sucks," I answered honestly and easily. "Because of it, I need to leave my friends and all the others behind, and I don't want that…" I bit my lip, starting to feel a bit sadness boiling inside of me. Natsume just kept watching me. I cleared my throat and shrugged. "But yeah, I just need to stay strong and see what'll happen."

"You really did accept it, huh..?" my step-brother said almost in a whisper. I eyed him again and nodded my head, smiling a bit proudly. "Yeah: I said I would try it, didn't I? You said it too."

Natsume breathed in some air before blowing it out through his nose, turning away from me, his eyes to the ceiling. "I did, but it's hard…"

I knew right away what he meant. "It feels strange, doesn't it?" I asked him in a whisper, my voice slow. Natsume nodded his head as an answer and sighed again, his fingers reeking through his messy, raven locks.

Without noticing it, I just kept my gaze on him, my lips slightly parted. He suddenly turned his eyes to me, his face unmoved, making me stiffen slightly in shock. My heart started to race at his intense look, just like it did back at the club.

I quickly darted my eyes elsewhere. "Uhh… W-where are our parents?" I quickly asked.

What the hell?

"In their room," he answered in a bored tone, though with some hints of disgust in it too. It took me a while before knowing why and quickly wrinkled my nose. "Ew…" I mumbled.

Natsume nodded his head in agreement. "Tell me about it," he returned before quickly cocking up his brow. "Do you already know where your bed room is?"

I frowned. "Don't tell me that it's right next to _their_ room…" Oh please, say no. Natsume presented me one of his famous, amused smirks again, his eyebrow still up. "Nah, don't worry, you're sleeping next to me."

I widened my eyes. "I'm what?" I cooed, feeling a blush touching my pink cheeks. The male gave me a dry look. "You're sleeping next to my room…?"

The nervous and startled feeling slowly disappeared, and I couldn't help to let out a relieved sigh. "Oh…" That's what he meant.

I blushed in embarrassment when I saw him looking at me like I was some sort of idiot. "What?"

"What did you think I meant?" he asked straight away, a suspicious yet amused glint in his crimson eyes. "N-nothing?" I managed to get out, trying to look calm, my eyes a bit wide though. Natsume snorted and I watched him come closer, his pace slow.

"If you really want it so badly, you can sleep in my bed for the night," he told me as he stopped in front of me; I had to look up at him because of how close he was, having the urge to hide my up-coming blush.

I frowned at his smirk. "Funny, and what if our parents find us the next morning?" Natsume scratched the back of his head, looking around him, pretending to be in a deep thought. "We'll just tell them we were drunk or something, and that nothing's happened."

"Oh yeah, that'll help," I spat, my voice filled with sarcasm. "And what if they don't believe us?"

He turned back to me. "Then we just let them think that we had sex," Natsume smirked at me seductively as I blushed, widening my orbs before narrowing them in annoyance. "You're a pervert, really."

"Tch," he retorted. "Says you." I threw him a scowl when I knew what he meant, my eyes still narrowed. "Shut it."

Natsume's smirk appeared once again and shrugged, passing me as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "If you still wanna know where your room is, follow me."

I rolled with my eyes, annoyed, sighed and decided to walk after him, keeping my mouth shut though cursing him in my mind.

The beginning had already made a great start…

* * *

"And here it is!" announced Nobuo as he stopped in front of our school, a wide smile seen on his face.

I gaped at the four huge buildings, baffled: so this was the Alice Academy for rich people? "You've got to be kidding me…" I mumbled lowly, my eyes wide. "I need to attend this?" I looked at my step-dad who just turned his face to me. "Of course."

"Why?" I directly returned. "I'm not even rich!" I was totally not going to fit in. "Technically, you are," began Aoi, who sat on the passenger's chair, matter-of-factly. "We're family now, remember?" I slightly began to frown at what I heard: right.

"Well, I'm going." Aoi opened the door, getting out of the car. She slightly leaned over to look at me, her eyebrows raised questionably. "Are you coming too, or what?"

I shifted my gaze from her to the school, and back to her. "No." Aoi started to crease her raven eyebrows and let her bangs almost cover her eyes. "Why not?"

"I'll get lost," I dryly answered, my expression serious. Aoi blinked before rolling with her strong eyes. "You're overreacting; it isn't that big, you know?"

"It has _four _buildings…"

"So? As long as you're with me, everything's gonna be okay." That's going to be hard when we weren't sitting in the same class.

Nobuo nodded his head in agreement, smiling at me. "Yes, Aoi is right, Mikan. Just stay close to her and everything's going to be alright. Now, off you go or else you're going to be late."

I sighed a bit in disappointment and nodded my head while opening the door, getting out of the car.

"Bye!" He waved us goodbye and as Aoi waved back, he drove off. We watched him before Aoi ran her fingers through her raven locks and walked to the gate where all the other students were going through and heading to.

I quickly followed her, scanning everything around me in the meantime. "Why are there four buildings?"

Aoi turned to me, her hair tucked behind her ear. "Because there are four schools," I snapped my face to the left, my eyes wide. "What?"

The female sighed and walked to a nice place on the grass and sat down. I just followed her. "Alright, let me explain." She turned her index finger to the building at the most left. "Do you see those toddlers?" I nodded as I watched how one small girl grabbed her mother's hand and disappeared together in the building. "That's the kindergarten."

"They've got a kindergarten here?" I cooed, surprised, my eyebrows lifted. Aoi nodded calmly as if that wasn't anything special.

Her finger moved a little bit to the right, to the second building. "That's the elementary school." Her finger went to the building to the most left. "That's the dormitory and the building next to it is where you and I are going to: high school."

"Which year are you?" I asked her, my eyes still scanning the whole place, trying to get the fact that I need to attend this in my head. "I'm a junior," she replied calmly before greeting a student she knew, her lips turned into a smile.

I sighed a bit in frustration in the meantime and creased my eyebrows. "I don't think I can get used to this…"

The girl turned to me immediately. "How so?" I looked at her. "Well, isn't it obvious? I mean… I've always been to a normal, for normal, _not-rich_ people school with only _one_ building which's only big enough for two to three-hundred people. And here? There are, like, thousands of people here!" I swallowed, shrugging. "It's just a little bit shocking for me."

She nodded her head in understanding. "Obviously; the changes that are happening right now to you are big and hard to accept. It's weird at first but then after some days it gets better and better, so you just need be patient." Aoi placed her hands behind her on the grass, letting her hair blow a little in her face. "You're not the only one, actually."

I couldn't help to be surprised at the last sentence. "I'm not..?"

"Of course. To be honest, it's weird for me to have you around here too."

I started to narrow my eyes, already annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean..?"

Her crimson eyes narrowed back at me. "Nothing. It's just that I'd never expected that we would go to the same school, which makes it feel weird." My step-sister's look softened and she shrugged. "But yeah, after some days I'm used to it."

What she said made me smile and I slightly nodded my head. "Yeah, I guess you're right,"

After some minutes of sitting, watching everyone passing by and Aoi greeting a lot of her friends, the bell rang and we stood up.

As we got into the building, we stopped in front of the lockers. I looked around me while Aoi opened her locker to dump most of the books she didn't need in it, before I turned my gaze back to her, blinking a bit in surprise. "So you still got lockers?" Didn't rich schools have a special way to put away their books?

Aoi nodded her head and closed her locker while she grabbed her bag, her glistering eyes turned to me. "Yes, but not all of us have them."

"Huh?"

"People who live here in the dormitory don't need one because they have their important things there. The ones who're still going home at the end of each day don't, so they gave us lockers to make it easier for us to bring the school stuff."

"When do I get my locker then?"

The female lifted her shoulders that already said enough. "The principle might talk to you about your school stuff soon enough."

"Did you ever think of staying here?" I started to ask her when that question popped up in my mind. She nodded her head, leaning with her shoulder against her locker for support. "The school has asked me a lot of times, but I always decline the offer."

"Why?" Wouldn't it be a lot easier?

Aoi gave me smile as she shrugged her shoulders. "Because I'd miss my family too much." I smiled back at her; how sweet.

"And they're a bit too strict for me," she added, scratching her cheek with her index finger.

"How so?"

"Uhh.." She tapped her chin, her eyebrows slightly lifted. "There are a lot of rules, like you need to go to bed at… nine o'clock or something," What..? "Everything needs to be silent after eight, you may not go out of your rooms after nine, and so on."

I stared at her, surprised to hear that. "For real?" My step-sister nodded her head. There went my idea for going to the dormitory. "And here I thought my mother was strict,"

Aoi chuckled softly at what I said before her attention shifted over to a short, black-haired girl who just passed us calmly. "Oh, Hotaru!" she greeted happily, making the girl pause her steps and turn around slowly. She only gave her one nod as a greeting.

"Long time no see," Aoi smiled while the other female nodded her head. "How are you?"

"Fine,"

"Good. I want to introduce you to Mikan, my step-sister," Aoi turned around, her lips turned into a friendly smile. "Mikan, this is Hotaru Imai. Hotaru, this is Mikan Sakura."

I quickly smiled while Hotaru gave me just a dry look, and weirdly enough she reminded me of Natsume. "Nice to meet you." Again, she gave me only one short nod before she said, "So you're our new family member?"

I blinked. "'Our'?" Aoi nodded, turning her eyes to me. "Yeah, she's our cousin,"

"Oh." was the only thing I could think of to say at that moment. So _that's_ why she reminded me of Natsume.

Aoi shifted her attention back to Hotaru. "It's a pity you weren't at the wedding. It was really fun." Hotaru shrugged at that. "We had some family business to handle." Then, at that moment, the second bell started to rang and a lot of students who were still hanging around in the hallway quickly made their way to their classrooms.

"I'm going too," Aoi said, putting her bag over her shoulder. "You should go too, you know."

"But I don't know where my classroom is…" I softly informed her, my eyebrows a bit creased.

"Do you know which class you're in?"

"Uhh… 4B, I believe…"

"Good! That's the same class Hotaru's in. You'll be just fine, Mikan." I just nodded when she smiled at me and she waved us goodbye before she walked away, heading to her own classroom.

When I looked back, I noticed that Hotaru was already walking away. I slightly panicked and quickly walked after her. I looked around me while silently staying behind her, seeing how big the hallways were and how many students made their way to their classrooms; some of them didn't even bother to be on time, and just stood there in a small group, talking.

I stiffened when a boy turned his gaze to me and shyly turned away. God, how I wished to be in my old school right now.

We stepped inside the classroom a short moment later and I walked even closer to Hotaru as all the eyes started to turn to me. How annoying.

"Who's that?" some of the students started to whisper to each other. "Is she going to be our new classmate or something?"

"She doesn't really look rich to me…"

"Hah, yeah, she's probably poor; I mean, look at those clothes!"

I frowned while pretending to ignore them; how rude. They didn't even know me yet and they were saying these kinds of things. And what was wrong with my clothes? Hotaru sat down behind her desk at the back of the classroom, not saying anything to me. I quickly eyed a seat next to hers and quickly claimed it as mine.

The whispers still continued, "Why is she with Hotaru?" Oh God.

"Is she her friend or something? I don't ever remember Hotaru coming inside the classroom together with someone."

"How can she be friends with someone like that?"

I shifted my eyes to the group of girls who I still heard whispering, while all the others finally shut up and just decided to stare at me; amount of makeup, almost walking around naked, bitchy… Yup, this had to be the most popular group in the school.

I sighed deeply and brushed my fingers through my hair, my eyes closed, ignoring them. "Annoying little bitches…" I heard Hotaru muttering in annoyance; I just nodded, blowing out some air once again just when the door opened and a blond-haired man walked inside the classroom; his lips were turned into a bright, happy grin.

"Hello class!" that guy started, his amethyst eyes scanning all of us. "My name is Narumi, and I'm your new homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you all!"

I heard boys, who were sitting in front of us, grunting underneath their breaths. "Him again as homeroom teacher? And here I thought I'd never see him again." One softly chuckled. "He isn't that bad,"

"Says you."

"I also want to know you guys so why don't you start introducing yourselves?" He turned to the girl in front who looked back with a surprised look. "And we're starting by you." Narumi gave her a friendly smile while the girl shyly looked away and slowly stood up.

It didn't take long before it was my turn and I stood up. "Uhh.. Mikan Sakura," After I said my name, I quickly sat back down.

When everyone was introduced, Narumi waved us goodbye and left the classroom just like that.

I blinked as the door closed and everyone started to turn their attention to each other, talking and doing their own thing. "What the hell? Why did our teacher leave the class?"

Hotaru shrugged. "Don't know. He always leaves the class when he's done talking; he probably thinks we're a waste of time or have enough responsibility to take care of ourselves."

And we only could _dream_ of it back at my old school.

"You know, we should do something with the class," someone suddenly yelled, getting up. "Like, celebrate the new school year or something."

Everyone started to grow silent and turned their attention to the girl who just suggested it. Her friend nodded her head, agreeing. "Alright, sounds nice. But what do you wanna do then?" The girl grew silent as she didn't know what to say anymore: she obviously hadn't thought of that yet.

"It has to be something cool," her friend continued. "I mean, come on: we're in our _last_ year of high school!"

Hotaru, I and some others just stayed out of this, silently watching how they tried to think of something. Did this happen every year?

"We can go to a club or something?" suggested a boy, his voice a bit shy. Everyone looked at him and soon they all agreed.

"Yeah, we can go to the Hyuuga club!" My eyebrows lifted immediately; wait… the Hyuuga club? Didn't they mean the club that Nobuo owned?

"Good idea! But Natsume doesn't go to school anymore."

"We still can ask his sister,"

"After class we'll go ask her."

"Alright!"

* * *

"Are you serious?" Natsume asked his sister at the question he received from her, his forehead a bit furrowed. Aoi nodded her head easily, swallowing her sandwich before she grabbed her glass with juice. "Yes. Mikan's classmates wants to do something together, so they thought of a teenage party in Dad's club,"

He rolled his eyes. "Only for, what, twenty-five people? What a stupid idea," He shifted his gaze towards me. "You were obviously the one who thought of it, or not?"

I shook my head, annoyed. "A classmate of mine thought of it; I've got nothing to do with it."

After she took some sips of her juice, Aoi put down her glass. "Natsume, just shut up, will you? They want to go out together, not that they're going to be the only ones in the club." She folded her arms in front of her chest, giving me a small smile. "I actually like the idea so I'll discuss this with Dad, and I'm pretty sure he'll be excited about it."

"So you're coming too?" I asked, opening up my bottle of water. She nodded excitedly. "Of course, it sounds like fun."

I nodded, my lips slightly curled up. "Alright."

After she finished her drink, she stood up. "I gotta go; I'll see you at home." Her crimson eyes turned to the other ones. "Thanks for the lunch, dearest brother. It was great."

Natsume narrowed his gaze angrily and irritated. "What's that supposed to mean?" She gave him an innocent look. "You're paying,"

"Why am I always the one paying your damn food?"

"What? I paid last time, so this is fair." She chuckled at the dark look Natsume gave her, but simply ignored it. "Alright, bye!" With that said, she turned around and left us alone.

I giggled a bit while taking some sips of my water, receiving a dark yet irritated look from the male next to me. "What's so funny..?" he asked me darkly.

I shrugged, taking one last big sip of my drink before putting it back on the table. "Nothing, nothing." He snorted and stuffed his mouth full with bread, his expression still annoyed. I almost had the urge to giggle at him louder; he really looked like a little kid that didn't get what he wanted.

With that thought I just kept on looking at him with my hand under my chin, smiling a bit. Suddenly, when he swallowed down his food, he gazed at me, his brows deeply creased. "What are you looking at?"

I blinked and quickly looked away, a blush touching my cheeks. "N-nothing.." I could sense him curving his thin lips into an amused yet mischievous smirk. "You're attracted to me," he suddenly pointed out.

I snapped my face to his direction as quickly as possible, my eyes a bit wide. "I am what?"

"You heard me."

I stared at him in silence for a while before my eyes narrowed at him. "I'm not attracted to someone who's family with me." I said matter-of-factly, my voice low. The male shrugged. "We're not really related to each other."

"Shut it," I returned, only making him chuckle in amusement; he really thought this was funny.

After we both finished our drinks, Natsume paid the bill while I left the café, waiting in his car. A small moment later, Natsume came out of the door and headed towards my direction, getting in.

"Are you going too?" I questioned as soon as he started the car and drove off. "To?" he responded, looking at me for a small moment before he turned his attention back to the road.

"To the club."

He was silent for a while. "Do you want me to come?" His expression was so calm and serious that I really thought he meant it. I frowned, though, when he looked at me through his corners and he curved his lips into one of his infamous smirks again.

"No," I answered honestly, my sentence curt. He turned back to the road. "On second thought, I'll come; I've got nothing to do anyway."

I rolled my eyes away from him, irritated, and placed my head against the window. "Great…" I grumbled sarcastically. Why the hell did I even ask..?

* * *

Nobuo had agreed to the idea of having a teenage party and had decided that it would be on Friday. When I told my classmates the news, everyone started to yell in joy, relieved and excited that they would go out.

It was only Tuesday then, and the Friday suddenly came really fast. Before I knew it I was inside my room, together with Sumire, Anna and Nonoko, sitting on my bed and doing my makeup.

"So, how's the new school, Mikan?" Sumire started to ask me soon after she was done applying her mascara. I just shrugged, not removing my eyes from the mirror I was holding.

Anna gave me a slight worried look. "Not fun?"

I shrugged once again and eyed the three girls. "I don't know, it's still a bit weird..." Nonoko smiled while putting her hair in a sideways ponytail. "You'll get used to it soon enough, I'm sure of it."

I hoped so.

The green-haired one moaned a bit in annoyance. "You know, I'm jealous of you." She folded her arms as I gave her a questionable look. "Going to a school that's only for rich people, sleeping in a mansion, having a hot guy as your step-brother…" She paused when the twins began to giggle at how she said the sentences.

My eyebrow lifted and a smile couldn't resist forming on my lips. "You're jealous of that?"

"Who wouldn't be?" she immediately replied when I continued with my eyeliner. "It's like _heaven_ and you're lucky that this had all happened to you." Her expression started to change and began to look irritated. "But yeah, you're all moping around, whining about this—"

I looked up, a frown on my forehead, "Hey, I already said that I'd accept everything. It's the 'getting used to it' part that's hard… It's not easy, especially when things are happing so fast right now."

Anna and Nonoko just stayed out of it and decided to hold their attention only to their makeup. She shrugged easily, her eyebrows raised. "Alright, whatever. But I still don't get why it's taking so long to get used to this; I understand that it's difficult to accept the big changes that are happening in your life, but that it's taking so long?"

I started to get annoyed and pissed. She didn't get it, did she? "_Like I said_, they are happening so fast, I don't know what to feel about them."

Sumire gave me a surprised look as if she didn't expect such reaction. "You're sleeping next to a person who deserves a prize of '_the most delicious eye candy in the world_'!"

That stabbed me and I threw her an angry look, my eyes narrowed. "For God's sakes, the world isn't always about guys, Permy!" I got off bed and stormed out of my room, searching for a bathroom to continue with my makeup there.

Just as I stepped out of the room, I heard Anna say to Sumire, "Great job, _Permy_,"

"What? I was just saying my opinion," Hearing that only made me angrier and I stomped even louder through the hallway to the bathroom, my jaw tight and my teeth gritted.

When I was in the bathroom, I shut the door with a loud thud and locked it, leaning against it. I felt hurt after hearing all those things from her; she really didn't get it and here I was, believing that she did, believing that she supported me.

I closed my eyes, chewing on the insides of my cheek.

She was always thinking about guys, fantasizing about them, believing that if you lived near or with a hot guy everything would be okay. She might think that, but did she _really_ think I would share such stupid thought with her?

Ugh, how stupid.

* * *

It was crowded in the club, unlike I expected. Everywhere I looked were teenagers from around my age, older or even younger than me.

I looked around, searching for my classmates and just as I thought, they were sitting in the lounge area, every one of them.

I turned back to the three girls I came in with. "I'm going to my classmates." Anna looked at me. "Oh, where are they then?" I pointed at where they were sitting. "Oh, alright." She smiled.

Suddenly, Sumire threw me an annoyed glare. "So you're just gonna leave us when you're actually with _us_, just like that?"

I glared back. "I never asked you guys to come with me: I only told you guys that there was going to be a teenage party in Nobuo's club and asked if you wanted to come too. The sentence 'do you wanna go with me?' never came from my mouth. You all decided and suggested that idea on your own." If she wanted to act bitchy, fine, I'd be like that too.

Anna sighed while Nonoko grabbed Sumire's hand. "Alright, enough. We'll be at the bar, Mikan, so if you need us you'll know where to find us." She presented me a small smile before she dragged Sumire with her to the bar, ignoring her complaints.

Anna nodded and gave me a smile, too, before she followed the two.

I snorted and flipped my hair backwards before I headed to my classmates, who, from the looks of it, were having a lot of fun. Just then, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.

I shrieked and quickly turned around to see who it was, ready to push him away and even smack him in the face, but halted when I saw it was Natsume.

"Bastard!" I immediately insulted, pushing him away. "Don't you _ever_ do that again!" He gave me a dry look, one of his brows lazily lifted. "Do what, this?" He repeated his actions, this time pulling me closer.

I started to get nervous and felt how my heart started to race as our faces were really near that I felt his soft breathing, and just looked him in the eyes when I didn't know where to look elsewhere. He smirked amusingly as he noticed my blush, but just kept his mouth shut.

I bit the insides of my cheek and suddenly started to smell alcohol, and frowned. Is he drunk..?

"H-how long have you been here?" I asked just loud enough for him to hear and also broke the silence with it. The male shrugged, letting me go. "I don't know, half an hour I think,"

"Are you drunk..?" I dared to ask and gave him a suspicious look. He shook his head twice. "I had some glasses of beer, but those weren't enough to get me drunk. And so what if I was? I'm a free man."

I just rolled my eyes as my only answer and then suddenly, Natsume started to tilt his head a bit to the right, a bored look written all over his face. "Maybe you need to start drinking alcohol, too."

"Now why would I do that?" I retorted, my hands on my hips.

"To forget all your problems for a while," Natsume showed me a small smirk. "Maybe then you'll loosen up more." He turned around and disappeared into the crowd.

I felt annoyed; like hell that was gonna work. I decided to ignore what just had happened and turned my eyes back to the lounge area, where now only Hotaru sat. Confused, I walked to her.

"Hey," I greeted. She looked up from her phone for a moment to see who was standing in front of her, and then turned her amethyst eyes back to it.

"Where are the others?" I asked her. She didn't even took the time to look up. "On the dance floor or at the bar or something."

"Oh. And why are you sitting here alone?" I sat down next to her.

"I'm busy."

"Texting someone?" I looked at the phone, a bit curious. "Playing a game," the female corrected me lazily and after a small moment she put her phone away, and turned her attention to me. "What was that just now?"

I blinked. "What was what..?"

"That with that perverted cousin of mine," she responded, one of her eyebrows up as she gave me a suspicious look. I blushed in embarrassment and bit my lip while shrugging. "N-nothing,"

Hotaru narrowed her gaze somewhat in annoyance, obviously thinking that I was lying. I frowned a bit in confusion when she tightly gazed into my eyes, like she was trying to find out on something. After a silent moment, she huffed, standing up.

"Just be careful," she told me, her voice still as emotionless as ever. I stared at her in confusion, wondering why she suddenly told me such thing. "What do you mean?" I asked her slowly.

Without responding, she just walked away, leaving me behind. I was surprised and called after her, but she didn't give any reaction. I groaned in annoyance, folding my arms.

This was starting to get annoying; I came here to get some fun and till now I was only getting irritated. I pouted and for a while I sat there alone before I decided to go to the bar and look for Anna and Nonoko.

"Hey!" the two girls greeted me in unison as they saw me. I smiled and ignored the annoyed look Sumire gave me, sitting down next to Nonoko. "And, already having fun?" she asked after she put her empty glass on the bar. I sighed, groaning a bit.

She gave me a questionable look. "What's wrong?" I shrugged. "Just… nothing,"

"You sure?"

I nodded as my answer and ordered diet coke. As my drink came, I took some big sips of it.

"Where's your class?" the pink-haired female asked me, her eyebrows lifted. I shrugged, giving them already a sign that I didn't really care about them anymore. "Probably on the dance floor or something."

Anna leaned a bit forward so she could look at me. "You know who's also here?" I eyed her a bit, my elbows on the bar. "Well?"

"Ruka, Natsume and Aoi!" It didn't make me feel excited: especially when I heard the name "Natsume" in the sentence.

"Hn," I grunted while my eyes scanned everything around me. "Where… are they then?" Nonoko pointed at the back of the bar. "Somewhere around there or something. Go to them, maybe they can cheer you up."

I gave her an 'are-you-kidding-me?' look. "Is that a joke or something?" The girl blinked with her dark blue eyes. "Huh? No, I'm serious. Go to them."

I narrowed my gaze. "Natsume is there."

"I just saw a girl dragging him to the dance floor, so you won't have to worry about him for the up-coming thirty minutes." A slight feeling of relief started to fizz inside of me when I heard that, and finished my coke. "Why would I go to them?" I questioned her, putting down my glass.

Nonoko held her shoulders up and picked up her own glass. "I don't know, maybe they can cheer you up. And I'm pretty sure they'd love to see you."

I rolled my eyes and just decided to go to them after realizing that those three weren't any help; maybe Ruka and Aoi could make me think of something else.

I stood up with a groan and while waving Nonoko and Anna goodbye (Sumire only silently looked at me), I headed to the back of the bar, searching for the two; I set my pace a bit fast so I'd get just enough time to be there without Natsume.

After a small moment, I finally found a guy with a head full of well-combed blonde hair, and ocean-blue eyes. I smiled and walked to him right away, touching his shoulder softly so I'd get his attention. He turned around with a confused expression on his face, but that soon changed when his eyes met mine. "Hey!" he greeted happily and gave one of his handsome smiles.

I saw the girl next to him (the one he was talking to) facing me as well, and presented me a beaming smile. "Mikan!" She jumped off her stool and embraced me tightly.

"I thought you wouldn't come tonight," she told me as we let each other go. "Where were you the whole time?" I shrugged. "Lounge area. And I was with Nonoko, Anna and Sumire at the bar just a minute ago."

Aoi looked at me for a minute, her eyebrows a bit creased. "Are you having a fight with Sumire?" I frowned in surprise at hearing that sudden question, and it didn't take long before I started to feel annoyed. "Who did you hear that from?" My voice started to get a bit low.

Aoi licked her dry lips quickly and placed a lose strand of raven hair behind her ear slowly, gazing away for a split second before turning back. "Nonoko texted me that something happened between you two."

I let out some air in frustration; great. I sat down on the stool Aoi was sitting on and she, not minding at all that I just stole hers, sat down next to Ruka.

"Where is your class then?" the male asked me, placing his empty glass down on the bar. I lifted my shoulders for three seconds. "Dancing or something, I don't know."

"Already made friends?" I only lifted one small finger, and his eyebrow lifted in surprise. "Only one?" I gave him a nod; sort of.

"You mean Hotaru?" my step-sister stepped in, leaning a bit forward so she could see me. I nodded my head slowly, but stayed silent.

The two looked each other and from the corners of my eyes I could see them give each other a questionable look, obviously wondering what happened to me. Then they turned back to me and Aoi's mouth opened, but before she could say anything I interrupted her, already knowing what she wanted to say. "Nothing happened."

The girl immediately closed her mouth and looked at me, baffled. "Are you sure?" Ruka asked me carefully, a slight concerned look on his handsome face. I looked at the two one by one and breathed in before blowing the air through my nose, forcing a smile on my lips; I nodded twice. "Yeah. Thanks for worrying."

The two smiled back in relief and I felt already a bit better, but not enough to be ready to party.

After ordering another glass of cold coke, Ruka and Aoi began to talk and they let me listen to them, not minding that I didn't chat with them. While the music changed in something slow, the youngest Hyuuga started to talk about alcohol and it made me raise my head for a moment; the words what Natsume said to me started to echo through my head.

"I think you're a bit too young for alcohol," Ruka told her while taking some sips of his drink. She immediately puffed her cheeks, not agreeing what he just said. "Oh come on! I'm fourteen."

"That's exactly why I'm saying you're too young." He pointed out, his arms folded.

"But I just want to have some glasses; only for tonight. Would it matter? It's not like I want to get drunk or something." Ruka sighed, shrugging. "My opinion stays the same."

Aoi rolled her dark orbs away from him, a bit annoyed. I swallowed silently. "I want to." I blurted out quickly, a bit nervous about the reactions I would receive from them. But instead of saying anything, they just looked at me with a surprised look in their eyes.

"Really?" Aoi started and when I nodded, she beamed happily. "See, two against one!" Ruka rolled his ocean-blue eyes away from her, but couldn't help to curve his lips into a smile, shaking his head.

The girl chuckled and then shifted her attention to me. "What do you wanna drink then?"

"You can order then?"

She nodded and winked. "I'm the daughter of the owner, remember?" I giggled at what she said but shrugged afterwards. "I don't know, just order something."

"Do you know Bacardi Breezer?" I shook my head slowly. She smiled as she called the bartender. "It's really good and it's not too strong as well."

I just let her order it and watched the bartender grab two bottles with soft-green liquid in it, filling our glasses with it. When the glasses stood in front of us, Aoi immediately grabbed it and took a long sip while I just stared at it, not really sure what to do.

Would I really forget my problems like Natsume said..? I bit my lip softly; I didn't want that down feeling the whole night. I wanted to _party_; that was why I came here.

I took a deep breath as I grabbed the glass, and took some sips of it. Ruka cleared his throat, finishing his own drink. "Natsume's not going to happy with this."

Aoi looked at him, her eyebrow up. "Like I care what he thinks; he's my bro, not my mother. Right Mikan?" I just nodded and soon we both chuckled.

It didn't take long before the two us finished our drink and ordered another one… and another, and another. With six glasses of Bacardi, Aoi stopped but I continued.

I started to feel happy and a bit hyper. My head was a bit light and my sight a bit… weird, but I just ignored all of that. Then suddenly, everything happened fast: I saw Natsume and instead of frowning in disgust and walking away, I smiled and felt a sort of warm feeling inside of me.

He furrowed his dark brows in surprise as I stumbled to him with a wide smile, and put my arm around him. "Natsu!" I somewhat greeted. Natsume gave me a dry look and then turned back to his sister and best friend. "What the hell is wrong with her?"

Aoi giggled. "She's drunk." Natsume narrowed his eyes dangerously, starting to get angry. "Did you drink too?"

The girl blinked a couple of times with her long, black eyelashes before she started to straighten her back and folded her arms in front of her chest, acting to be all-mighty. "No, of course not!" When he glanced at Ruka, he already knew the answer and it even angered him more.

"Ruka, I told you to keep an eye on her. She's way too young to drink."

The blonde male gave him a guiltily look. "I know, I know. I warned her, but she didn't listen and ordered a glass for her and for Mikan. And you know how your sister is: even if I snatched that glass away from her, she'd just order a new one."

"I'm not drunk!" Aoi protested, glaring at the two boys. "At least, not as drunk as she is."

Natsume rolled his crimson eyes away and pushed my head away as I rested it on his shoulder, giggling a bit. "I can see that."

After that I didn't really follow it anymore: I heard some sentences like, "My Dad is going to kill me," and "Let's get out of here." And before I knew it, I sat in the back of the car, my head leaning against the window, almost falling asleep.

Half an hour later, what felt like a small ten minutes, the car door opened and I almost fell out of it if my step-brother didn't catch me. He pulled me carefully out of the car. My head was spinning and my legs felt so light that it was like I was flying.

"Is she going to die?" Aoi asked as she got out of the car and slammed the door shut. "Shh!" her brother hissed. "Shut your mouth or else Dad and Yuka will wake up,"

"Eh? It's only three AM!" she returned back.

"Aoi, I'm warning you: get inside and go to bed." She moaned in disappointment and sighed afterwards, grumbling something before yelling, "Goodbye Ruka!" She headed to the door, disappearing through it.

Natsume put my arm around his shoulder to support me, and leaned a bit forward so he could see Ruka.

"I'm sorry," the blonde male mumbled, while the other shrugged. "It's okay. We'll talk about it tomorrow. First I need to get this drunken thing in bed." I just groaned a bit.

"Yeah," Ruka agreed. "Good luck. Bye." Natsume only gave him a small nod and as he shut the door, Ruka drove away.

We slowly got inside and a silent and a troubling moment later, Natsume opened the door and before I noticed he pushed me down on something warm and soft.

"Goodnight," he said curtly in a low voice and turned around, taking some steps. "Wait," I called him and saw him through half-closed eyelids that he turned to me, a bit annoyed. "What?"

"Are you goin' ta—" I hiccupped softly, trying to sit up. "Leave me like this?" Natsume didn't completely follow me. "What do you mean..?"

"Like... helpin' me gettin' undressed and stuff?" I watched his eyebrows rising in surprise and his jaw tightening, and I giggled mischievously. "No," he responded after five seconds of silence. I pouted, wanting him to stay. "Please?" He looked at me intently before he let out a long breath, and headed back to me. "I'll just tuck you in, but that's it, got it?"

I nodded, already glad that he stayed and let him help me with my shoes. After that was done, I stood up so he could grab the blankets and before I'd actually fall, he quickly grabbed me with a low grunt.

I inhaled his scent and giggled a bit. "You smell nice."

"I can't believe you actually got drunk," he told me in return, ignoring what I just said to him, helping me to lay down, his expression dark from annoyance. I puffed my cheeks as I put my head on my pillow. "You said I had to…"

Natsume frowned. "I didn't: I just suggested something; I didn't know you'd _actually_ listen." I huffed childishly while he put the sheets on me.

Without saying something, he turned his back to me and wanted to walk away, until I stopped him by calling his name, "Natsu… are you leaving?" I asked in a disappointed tone. He peered over his shoulder and nodded only twice.

I licked my lips a bit. "Without a goodnight kiss?" He sighed and flipped his bangs backwards in a frustrated way. "Yes, without a goodnight kiss."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Because you're drunk," he told me easily as he faced me, his forehead furrowed.

"Does that matter?"

"Yes, and we're step-siblings."

I moaned softly. "But we're not related." He shrugged stiffly. "Don't care. The answer is still no." I gave him another childish pout and then, after I thought of something, I started to giggle playfully and without saying something I sat up and grabbed his wrist, pulling him to me.

He didn't expect any of it and because of that, he almost fell on top of me. He barely stopped himself by placing one hand next to me.

Our faces were close and I felt him stiffening as he stared at me; his face was still emotionless but his eyes weren't: they showed exactly what he was feeling.

Our lips were slightly parted and we heard each other breathing, feeling it. I glanced at his lips a couple of times before gazing back into his eyes. "Please..?" I questioned him once again, my voice in a whisper.

Natsume swallowed and I saw that he was struggling with the thought, but nonetheless he leaned in. I closed my eyes, ready for it. But just when I thought it was going to happen, he muttered a simple, two-lettered word. The warmth disappeared and before I knew it or could do something, the door closed with a loud thud.

* * *

Sam – Yay, I'm back with a new chapter! So can I get from you all a tight—? Nahh, who am I kidding. == You rather slap me in the face than give me a hug through the fact I let you wait so long for this, and I totally understand. But this is eleven pages, so I hope this satisfies you a bit. :)

Mehh, it's not going well, is it? Mikan is only getting more stressed and what had happened between her and her step-brother isn't really going to make it any better. And she sure isn't the only one.

Thanks for reading! Hope you all liked it and please leave a review; no flaming.

Much love,  
Unknown Pain


	6. Just A Kiss

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by –** Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

"_Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter VI – Just A Kiss-**

I slowly opened my eyes when the bright light bathed my bedroom and woke me up from my sleep. I yawned tiredly and slowly got up, not quite feeling well.

I made my way to the bathroom with a slow pace and opened the water tap to plash some water in my face. After doing that a couple of times, I took a look at the mirror and widened my eyes when I saw my messed up reflection: strained makeup and my hair looked like… _sex_ hair.

I twitched my eyebrows, slightly swallowing. "I didn't have…?" I asked myself, but soon shook my head to get rid of that thought; it wasn't possible to have sex. Aoi was there: no way she'd leave me with a guy while I had some alcohol flowing through my veins.

I wiped away the strained mascara and eyeliner with a towel before I looked down at my clothes; I got confused as I realized that I was still wearing my normal clothes instead of my pajamas. Sighing, I stripped, threw them on the floor and turned on the shower.

I inhaled and exhaled when I felt the warm water sliding down my skin; it was as though my problems got washed away. I ran my fingers through my hair, raising my head so the water would straightly fall on my face.

I wondered what had happened yesterday. I could only remember that I came in the club together with Nonoko, Anna and Sumire and that we separated so I could go to my classmates. After that, I sat down at the bar with Ruka and Aoi, and that's it. I knew I had some alcohol, but I couldn't have had _that _much to make me not remember anything, right..?

It took almost half an hour before I finally came out of the shower and wiped myself dry. I wasn't in the mood to put on nice clothes and do my makeup, so I put on grey jogging pants and a small t-shirt with a vest over it.

After combing my wet hair, I walked down the stairs towards the kitchen, getting some coffee before going to the living room.

"Good afternoon," my mother greeted me as she peered over her shoulder to look at me. I plopped onto the couch next to her, not greeting back. Instead, I turned my attention over to the clock that hang on the wall, wondering what time it was. I slightly frowned when I saw that it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon.

Whoops.

"Have a rough night?" Mom asked me half jokily and half serious. I shook my head, not in the mood to speak, and took some sips of my coffee.

"Did you get some alcohol?" I nodded my head slowly, not making a big deal out of it; she wouldn't like it but at least I wouldn't get into trouble for lying to her. "Were you drunk?" Her frown started to deepen as she watched carefully the way I shook my head at that right away.

My mother was very protective when it came to drinking alcohol and getting drunk; drinking alcohol was kind of alright, but getting drunk…was a reason for her to ground you for two months or even more.

Maybe I got drunk last night; heck it was the reason why I didn't remember the half of it. But the last thing I wanted was her to find out about it. I wasn't in the mood to get yelled at, especially when I felt like crap, and I _certainly_ didn't want problems with her nor getting grounded.

I pressed the warm mug almost against my lips as I said, "If you were wondering why I woke up this late, it's because I got into bed around four AM or something," I took another large sip of my coffee, watching from the corners of my eyes how my mother watched me from head to toe, as though she was struggling with the thought if she'd believe me or not.

"I didn't get drunk, Mom," I told her to soothe her thoughts a bit. After a while, she let me hear a deep sigh and nodded her head. "Alright," she returned. "I believe you. But you know what'll happen if I find out you did, right?"

I rolled my eyes away from her and nodded my head curtly to answer her question. With that, she stood up, patted my head for a split second as she passed me and left the room.

As soon as she left, I exhaled and inhaled deeply in relief; now I hoped Aoi and Natsume would say the same thing if she'd ask them.

Suddenly, Natsume walked into the living room and, as soon as our gazes met each other, he halted abruptly his steps. We stared at each other in silence and I blinked at the slightly surprised way he looked at me.

"H-hey…" I greeted him, a bit nervous. His look turned back into emotionless and with a "hn", he went into the kitchen. I watched him leaving with a confused expression, but kept my mouth closed.

"Ah, finally! You're awake." I faced Aoi who stood in the door opening Natsume just came through, her lips slightly curved into a smirk and her hands placed on her hips. "Yeah…" I responded in a low voice and she sat down next to me.

Her crimson eyes stayed on me for a moment before she said, "You don't look so good; hangover?" I frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" Aoi shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, her eyebrows a bit raised. "Well… you drank a lot yesterday."

I sighed and brushed my fingers through my hair. "I already figured that, thank you very much." I finished my coffee and placed the empty mug on the table.

Her smirk widened as she shook her head. "Bad girl." I narrowed my eyes at her, which made her giggle in amusement. "Like you didn't have anything," I sneered.

"At least I didn't get so drunk that Natsume had to carry me to my room."

I widened my eyes in surprise. "What?" I returned. "Did Natsume carry me to my room?" Aoi nodded her head twice. "Yeah… Well, I wouldn't call it 'carrying' and all, but he _did_ bring you to your bedroom."

"That's all…?"

"Yup. Ruka drove us home and while I went straight to bed, Natsume had trouble bringing you to your bedroom." Aoi blinked. "Why? You think something happened?"

I slightly swallowed my dry throat and shrugged, looking away for a split second. "I don't know. But Natsume is acting a little bit… weird."

"Not a big deal," she immediately returned. "He's just in a bad mood because of what happened yesterday." I slightly bit the insides of my cheek. "How so?"

Aoi shrugged a bit nonchalantly. "Beats me. He's probably afraid that our parents will find out about it."

It calmed me down and I sighed softly in relief, licking my dry lips. I just gave her a nod and just when I wanted to grab my mug, and get some more coffee, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" the raven-haired female yelled before she walked with a quick pace towards the door. The door opened and.. "Ruka!" Even though I didn't see her, I knew that she embraced him into a tight hug.

"Hey," he greeted back, a slight chuckle escaping his throat. "Is Natsume home?"

"Yeah, he's in the kitchen." The door closed and the two came into the living room. Ruka presented one of his handsome smiles when he saw me. "Good morning to you," he greeted, noticing my "I'm-feeling-horrible!" look. I rolled my eyes but smiled back at him. "Yeah, hey."

"Not feeling well, I see?" the male asked me as we headed towards the kitchen. I nodded my head, slightly frowning. "Don't talk about it. What are you actually doing here?"

Ruka sighed. "I came here to talk with Natsume,"

"About…?"

"Yesterday." We halted our steps immediately after we came into the kitchen and saw Natsume sitting on the sink with a mug in his hands. His short eyebrow raised. "Yo," was his greeting while Ruka smiled and gave him a nod.

"Is there still some coffee?" I asked my step-brother and he pointed to the coffee what seemed to be his answer. I didn't say anything and just walked to it, refilling the mug with it.

"Listen, about yesterday—" Ruka started his sentence guiltily as he sat down on the chair of the kitchen table. "Never mind about it," Natsume interrupted him in his usual voice. "It happened and it's not like we could change it."

His friend's blonde eyebrows elevated in surprise. "But you were pretty pissed," he returned.

"I wasn't pissed," Natsume reacted easily, his forehead slightly furrowed. "I was more irritated of seeing my sister being drunk while my father told me a thousand times that I need to make sure Aoi wouldn't do anything stupid, like drinking alcohol because she's too young."

"But you were gone, so in that time I had the responsibility for her." Ruka said.

"Even so, if we tell Dad about it, I'm the one who will get grounded."

"Probably…"

Natsume sighed, brushing his fingers through his messy hair. "Which is the reason why I'm not planning to say anything,"

Ruka's ocean-blue eyes turned to me and I blinked, wondering what he wanted. "What about Mikan, then? Are you planning to tell Yuka and your father about her?"

"Like hell I'm going to do that," the other male responded immediately, annoyance filling his voice. "That's her job. By the way," He looked at me from the sideways of his eyelashes. "You brought me a lot of trouble yesterday."

I blinked again. "Huh? How so?"

"You were _drunk_," Natsume told me with a frown, facing me properly. "More than Aoi was." I got irritated. "Oh really? Like I haven't noticed that already."

He just rolled his eyes away from me and instead of responding, he took a large sip of his coffee.

"You probably don't remember that half of the day, do you..?" Ruka asked me as he cocked his head a bit to the left side, his eyebrow slightly raised. I blushed in embarrassment and shook my head curtly, turning away. "Not… really, no."

"Of course you didn't," Natsume grumbled, making me glaring softly at him; I wondered what his problem was to act so irritated and angry. "If you do, then tell me what happened." I said, leaning against the sink with still the mug in my hands.

"Forget it," Natsume retorted with an irritated glare presenting on his face. My eyebrows raised in irritation and slight anger. "Why not?"

"See it as a punishment for all the problems you caused me yesterday." I glared at him once again, stronger than before. "You jerk!"

Natsume shrugged, obviously not giving a damn about it. "It's your own fault; you're the one who got so drunk that you barely could stand on your feet." He finished his coffee and placed the empty mug hard on the sink, jumping down. "And maybe it's better that you don't remember the half of what you did."

I blinked at the last sentence, watching him leave. "Come, Ruka," he called his best friend, standing still in the door opening. Ruka gave him a questionable look. "What are we going to do then?"

"Don't know, don't care," Natsume answered and walked away. Ruka sighed and stood up from his seat. Telling me goodbye with his famous smile, he quickly walked after the other male, leaving me behind in the kitchen.

I blew out some air through my nostrils and held the mug in front of my lips for some small seconds, before taking a small sip of it, still wondering why Natsume was acting like that; _I_ was the one who got drunk, _I_ needed to act so irritated, angry and frustrated, _not_ him.

A feeling appeared inside of me that told me that something did happen between me and him… that was the only answer for his behavior. The only question was: what?

* * *

I frowned and groaned in annoyance as my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I waited some seconds, hoping the vibrating would stop but unfortunately, it didn't. Sighing loudly and not even removing my head from my pillow, I grabbed my phone and seeing the name "Anna" on the screen, I held it against my ear. "What?" was my greeting and through that it took a small moment for her to greet back, _"Hello to you, too."_

"Hn," I returned, not really in the mood to speak and placed my arm on my forehead, my eyes closed.

"_How are you feeling__?"_ Anna asked me slowly.

"Guess."

"_Not well__, I guess,"_ she responded with a sigh. _"Did you get drunk yesterday?" _

"Now, what makes you think that?" I questioned her back in a low voice. _"Nonoko, Sumire, and I saw you leaving with Aoi, Ruka, and Natsume, and the boys had to hold you or else you'd seemed to fall," _

I cursed in my thoughts and sighed. "Fine, I got drunk; so what? Is it a problem or something?"

"_No,"_ she said back without a second thought. _"But I can remember that you always said that you never wanted to get drunk because one: it was stupid, and two: you mother would kill you."_

I kept my mouth shut, wondering how to reply to that. _"Therefore, I'm thinking that you did it on purpose to help yourself a little bit." _

I immediately opened my eyes. "What?" I reacted and sat up. "What gives you that—?"

"_I'm right, aren't I..?"_ she interrupted me and her voice started to sound sternly. It took me a moment to respond and, after a sigh in frustration, I said, "Maybe.."

Anna sighed back and I sensed her brushing her thin fingers through her wavy, pink hair. _"Mikan, why?"_

"What do you mean 'why'?" I returned, hints of irritation could be heard in my voice. "You know that I'm stressed, right? I'm sick of that feeling and I just wanted to know how it feels again to… have no worries."

"_Yeah, but you said you'd try to accept all the changes that happened to your life, right?"_

"That still doesn't mean that I've got no troubles with it. And Natsume said—"

"_Whoah,"_ Anna interrupted me and I could see her eyebrows elevating. _"Natsume? What did Natsume say?"_ I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to find the nerve to tell the stupidest thing I had ever done. After a small moment of silence, Anna said, _"Did Natsume say you have to drink to forget all your worries…?"_

"Well—"

"_He did, didn't he?"_

"Not exactly… He just suggested it, but he didn't force me or anything…" I felt more stupid with every second that went by. _"And you _listened_ to him?"_ I nodded my head as though she saw it, and made an "uh-huh" sound to say yes.

"_Mikan…"_ Anna said my name through a deep sigh. _"You're an idiot for thinking that getting drunk is the answer to all your problems; it'll only get worse if you're going to repeat this action."_

"I know…" I said back, my voice soft. "Something might have already happened…"

"_What do you mean?" _

"Between me and Natsume. He's suddenly been all angry and annoyed at me, as though I did something wrong."

"_Isn't t__hat just because you got drunk?"_ she asked and because of the way she asked me that, I knew she wasn't quite sure of that herself. I shook my head twice. "No; he could care less. I think I might have done something."

"_And you hav__en't thought of asking him yet?"_

"No," I immediately returned. "How the hell can I do that? It might be something that will bring both of us in trouble or something." I swallowed my dry throat and bit the insides of my cheek hard. "Seriously… What have I done?"

"_.. I'm sure it'll__ be alright, Mikan,"_ she said, trying to soothe me a little bit. _"Maybe you just have to wait a day or something, and maybe he'll be the usual Natsume again."_

"And if not?"

"_Then it__ might be better to ask him about it." _

I nodded my head. "Maybe… What did Nonoko and Permy say about this then?"

"_They were surprised and worried, and__ they wanted me to call you to know if you're feeling well and such."_ My eyebrows raised in surprise at the thought that even Sumire was worried. "Even Permy?"

"_She__ acted all nonchalant and said things like, 'don't care', 'it's her fault' and such. But I'm pretty sure that she's also worried about you." _

"Oh..."

"_You still haven't talked __things out with Sumire, have you?" _Anna asked me all of a sudden. I shook my head curtly. "Not really. I want to but I don't think she's ready for it yet."

"_You know __the way she is, right? Just wait for the right moment and then everything will be alright, just like all the other things."_

I swallowed again and pressed my head back into my pillow, letting out a tiredly sigh. "I hope so." I sensed the pink-haired girl smiling. _"It will be, trust me."_

* * *

I did what Anna suggested for me to do and waited a day to let him cool off. When I finished placing my books in my school bag, I hung it over my shoulder and left my bedroom. I closed the door behind me at the same time Natsume did, and looked at him.

With a thought that he wouldn't be as angry as the day before, I turned to him. "Good morning," I greeted him with a small smile pressed on my lips. But he didn't even look at me and with his hands shoved into his pockets, he walked away.

I frowned at his reaction and, automatically, as he passed me, I grabbed a hold on his arm and pulled him back so he'd halt his steps.

He narrowed his crimson eyes at me warningly, but I only glared back, not feeling threatened by his look at all. "What's wrong with you..?" I asked him with a low voice. His raven, short eyebrow cocked up. "You're asking me that while _you're_ the one who's grabbing my arm and stopping me like that?"

I frowned. "Y-yeah, well… I've got a reason for it, you know? I just wanna—"

Why do I even care? I blinked and shut my mouth as I started to think that and quickly let him go, taking a small step back. We just looked at each other after that, the silence surrounding us; I really didn't know why I cared about him being angry at me through whatever reason.

I just had to laugh him off, shrugging my shoulders and say, "I'm better than you," right? Yet, here I stood in front of my step-brother who had his eyes narrowed suspiciously, feeling bad about the whole thing. Because I knew that I did something, something… that would bring us into stress.

Natsume's look darkened as I didn't speak any further and let me hear a "tch". "You're only wasting my time," he retorted and with that, he turned his broad back to me and walked away.

I watched him and sighed, brushing my fingers through my loose hair. Seriously, couldn't he just tell me what was wrong?

After we had enough distance between us, I followed his steps.

At breakfast he didn't even talk to me and just ignored me when I asked him to give me the milk. I deeply growled inside my throat and pressed my back into the chair again, my arms in front of my chest, somewhat pouting.

My mother raised her eyebrow questionably and looked at both of us. "Did something happen?" she asked. While I said, "I've got no idea," Natsume said at the same time, "No." He had his eyes turned to his food.

Nobuo, Mom, and even Aoi, gave us all a suspicious look but they all decided not to talk further about it. "Natsume," his father started to change the subject. "Can you drive Mikan and Aoi to school? I have something that I need to take care of; don't worry, I can pick them up."

"No," the male said curtly, without looking his father in the eyes and took a bite of his bread. We all raised our eyebrows at hearing that.

"Why not?"

"Not in the mood."

Aoi narrowed her crimson eyes. "What do you mean 'not in the mood'? Just because you got into some strange fight with Mikan, doesn't mean you can let us walk home." Natsume glared at her. "Shut it, moron."

"What?" the youngest female returned and darkened her look.

"Enough," Nobuo butted in with a strict frown. "Both of you." The two did what he said and just stared at each other with an angry expression, but I didn't, "Fine," I began and sat up, looking at the raven-haired lad with a deep frown. "Then I'll ask _Ruka_ to bring us. I'm certain that he'll say yes because he _isn't_ so heartless to let us walk home."

Natsume gave me a warning glower, his eyes narrowed. Not being affected by it, I continued, "I, by the way, don't get why you're friends; he's handsome and you're a jerk. He's got a pure heart and you don't even _have_ one. Maybe you should listen and act like him for once, maybe then people won't only fall for your looks but _also_ your personality."

"_Fine_, do whatever you want," Natsume growled not even two seconds later as I finished my sentence, and stood up. "Like I give a damn." He walked away.

I bit the insides of my cheeks to prevent me from yelling and swallowed my dry throat. "Bastard…" I muttered when he passed me, not looking at him at all. "Bitch," he retorted angrily.

* * *

"Seriously, what did you do?" Aoi asked me as soon as we stepped out of Ruka's car and, after we waved him goodbye, we headed to the entrance of our school. I raised my eyebrow in surprise and blinked. "How so?"

"With Natsume and stuff. You probably did something very troublesome or else he wouldn't even act like this."

I frowned. "I don't even know what I did; if I knew, I'd already talk to him, but he doesn't want to say what I have done wrong. Can't you talk to him or something?" Aoi gave me a look as though I was stupid to even ask her that. "Like hell he would actually tell me what happened. Maybe you just need to let it rest and give him the time to cool off; whatever happened between you two got him stressed, so give him the time to think things out."

I nodded my head slowly in agreement. "Maybe you're right…" We sat down on the green grass and I grabbed my bottle of water out of my school bag, opening it. "But I don't even know why I care about this…" I took some sips out of it.

Aoi raised her raven eyebrow in a cocky way. "But I do," she said easily and I swallowed the water. "Really?" She nodded her head twice. "You care about him."

I stared at her and gave her the "are-you-stupid?" look. "Is this a joke or something, because I'm not laughing."

"Who said it was a joke? I'm serious here," the girl responded with her eyebrows furrowed in irritation. "You care about him just like I do, that's why you hate that this is happening between you two. It's nothing to be ashamed off."

I still couldn't believe what she said; he's an arrogant jerk who always thought that he's better. Why would I care about him if he didn't even care about me? "I hate him." I retorted in a low voice with a dry look painted on my face.

Aoi sighed at what I said and shrugged. "Alright, whatever, but that still doesn't change my opinion. Just do what I told you to do and in the meantime, try to think about what you possibly could have done wrong."

I responded with a curt nod and took a large sip of water. "Because," she continued. "It's not like he's the only one who needs to do something about it; you need to do it as well."

* * *

I did what Aoi told me to do: I didn't speak to him nor look at him. I backed away and so did he. I decided to put my attention on school and on different things so he could have the time to cool off, like Aoi said.

I tried to think of what I could have done, too; I could have hit him but then he needed to have a black eye or some wounds on his face, which he didn't. Did I yell at him? Insult him? Nah, that couldn't be the reason to make him act like that.

Damn that boy. If he just told me what I did wrong we wouldn't even be in this mess.

After a week there was still no difference and I started to give up, stopped thinking about it and stopped caring about it.

I came into the kitchen and ran my fingers through my hair, seeing my mother being busy with making something. "Hey," I greeted her and she immediately turned around, presenting me a smile. "Hey! How's studying?"

"Fine, fine. I'm just going to get something to drink before I'll go back upstairs," I told her as I opened the refrigerator. "Oh, alright," Mom returned and turned her back to me again, grabbing a plate. "If you're going upstairs, do you want to bring this to Natsume? He's in his room." She handed me over the plate with two ham-cheese sandwiches on it.

I frowned in irritation. "Couldn't he make that himself?" The adult held her shoulders up in a curt way. "I wanted to make it for him to make him feel better. As you may have noticed, he's being in an awful bad mood lately."

"Yeah, I have noticed," I responded through a sigh and picked an empty glass out of the cupboard, filling it with juice. After I was done, I grabbed the plate and did what Mom requested me to do. I showed her a smile as she thanked me and with that, I went upstairs.

After some minutes, I stood in front of his door and placed my glass on the plate, next to his sandwiches, so I had a free hand to knock on his door. When I didn't get a response, I let out a sigh and just opened the door, not being afraid of the insults and yells I could get.

Natsume lay on his king-sized bed with his manga on his face; it looked like he was sleeping. I let out some air in relief; good. I tiptoed to his bed and placed the plate on his nightstand. But just when I wanted to grab my glass with juice and leave, his hand started to move and I watched in silence how he picked his manga from his face, his eyes rolling slowly to my direction.

"What are you doing here…?" the male asked, his voice cracking from just waking up. The first thing I did was blink in surprise, my eyebrows both raised, as I heard him talk. I turned my face to the back as though someone was standing behind me, before I turned my attention back to my step-brother. "Are you talking to me?"

Natsume frowned and raked his fingers through his messy locks. "Who else, idiot." It didn't sound like a question at all.

"So you aren't that angry anymore, huh?"

"Answer my question," he said instead and sat up, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. I frowned. "You first."

"Forget it."

"Fine. Mom asked me to bring you this because I was going to my room anyway." He eyed my drink. "So that is also for me?" I frowned. "No, of course not," I said childishly. "It's mine."

Natsume just rolled his eyes away from me as a respond and he let me sitting on his bed. I gave him a calm look. "Now it's your turn to answer my question: are you still angry, yes or no?" He shrugged nonchalantly and looked forward. "Not really," he half-muttered, his expression still has emotionless as ever.

I felt a string of relief appearing inside of me as soon as I heard that sentence, but tried the best I could to hide it. "Are you still not going to tell me what happened that made you act like that…?" I continued to ask, my voice calm and soft.

It took him a while to answer that and I watched the way he furrowed his forehead, pushing his lips into a thin line. "You won't believe me anyway," he said after a moment of silence. I raised my eyebrow in a surprised yet cocky way. "You'd never know unless you tell me."

His eyes turned to me, his face unmoved. "Why do you care?" I needed a moment before I could answer such question; what Aoi told me started to echo through my mind and I bit my upper lip, trying to find the right words to answer with.

He started to raise one of his thin eyebrows as though he was saying, "Hurry up, I'm waiting here."

"Because I do…" I blurted out before I could even stop myself.

"Do what?"

"C-care…"

He looked at me bluntly and after a small silent moment he said, "Do you care about me?" I widened my eyes and quickly looked away to hide my blush of embarrassment. "I-I never said that."

I sensed him smirking, amused. "Whatever," I took a deep breath and faced him again, looking at him with a serious expression. "Y-you still haven't answered my question, Natsume."

His smirk disappeared slowly as my words rung through his ears. "Fine." He shifted his orbs elsewhere and swallowed lightly. "You tried to kiss me."

I stared at him in silence with a blunt face, not quite understanding what he just said. "Excuse me…?" I reacted to him which made him getting irritated, his jaw tensing up. "You tried to kiss me," he repeated again, hints of irritation could be heard in his deep voice.

I blinked before I laughed at him, receiving a scowl that I easily ignored. "Hah, what?" I began through laughter. "Are you kidding me?"

Natsume growled deep inside of his throat, his rare eyes narrowed. "I'm not lying, you idiotic girl." My laughter faded away as I saw the serious expression he had painted on his emotionless face, and began to feel nervous. "B-but… w-why?"

Natsume shrugged nonchalantly and eyed away. "I don't know; you were drunk." He started to tell me the story of what happened when Aoi and I got drunk, and what I wanted and did when Natsume brought me to bed.

My eyes widened at what I heard and it didn't take long before I started to panic. "I did _THAT_ when I was _drunk_?" The male answered with a curt nod, not making any eye contact with me.

My frown deepened while my eyes were still widened, and after a silent while, I shook my head. "No… Y-you're lying," Natsume scowled at me the best he could, his face dark from the annoyance that boiled inside of him. "I didn't kiss you or _try_ to kiss you… You're lying. And did _you_ do something to me, then?" My voice was high of the panic I felt.

To my utter shock, he didn't answer that question immediately. I automatically started to blush as I pictured us kissing, what he could have done that day, and slightly backed away. "Natsume… Y-you.. kissed me?"

"... Almost." What came out of his mouth was a low grumble that nobody could have heard, but I heard it clearly and my heart started to speed up. "'_Almost_'?"

"I had some alcohol, too, so I probably just got up in the moment, or something,"

"But—!"

He looked at me again, his forehead deeply furrowed. "We didn't kiss, moron." The way he said those words and the way he looked at me calmed me down, and I took a deep breath before letting it out, brushing my fingers through my long locks. "Good," I responded after a silent moment. "Because, seriously, I'd kill myself if I _did_ kiss you."

Suddenly, Natsume's raven eyebrow bounced up, probably a bit surprised to hear that. "What's that supposed to mean?" I shrugged nonchalantly. "Well… I have a thought that you kiss horribly."

"How do you know if you never kissed me?"

"Guys like you are horrible at kissing, it's the truth." Natsume frowned. "That doesn't even make sense."

"It's a fact."

"It's stupid."

"That's what you think."

"You want proof?"

"Yes." I widened my eyes and quickly covered my mouth with my hands, watching the way he curved his lips into an amused yet seductive smirk. I cursed myself in my thoughts while I tried to stop blushing, my heart beating faster at the way he looked at me.

"Hn, if that is what you want," he said before he leaned closer to me. I immediately backed away with my eyes still wide, my face burning of the embarrassment I felt. "W-wait! W-we can't kiss… we're siblings."

The male gave me a cocky look. "Siblings who are not related to each other whatsoever," he told me matter-of-factly. I frowned. "Doesn't matter!"

"You wanted proof."

"I-I was kidding."

"But who said I was..?" His voice suddenly shrunk lower as though he _really _wanted to kiss me. I still shook my head stubbornly, trying to calm my heart down in the mean time. "N-no…" He rolled his eyes away from me, slightly frowning in irritation. "It's your own fault for thinking that guys like me are bad at kissing."

"I-it's the truth…" I still said in a soft whisper, and started to let my heart beat in an unhealthy pace and didn't even care anymore if I blushed furiously because, strangely enough, I started to get curious of how it would feel if we really did kiss.

"Then let me prove to you that what you're thinking is a lie." His words were said into a whisper and he leaned in. And this time, I didn't even move away.

Our lips touched and I stiffened at the way it felt. It was just a small, closed-mouthed kiss, nothing special, and after some seconds we parted again. But soon, as though he didn't found it enough, Natsume closed the distance between us again, pressing his lips harder against mine.

Not expecting this, I started to frown and wanted to struggle to get away but I didn't even move, and just let him do whatever he wanted to do.

This wasn't even horrible; it felt good, amazing, and I wanted _more_ of it.

Natsume slightly started to lick my bottom lip and then nip on it, hoping that I'd give him access. I let out a small shriek of surprise but nevertheless I wanted to give him the thing he wanted. But just when I wanted to open my mouth a little bit, a voice in my head started to scream at me, shouting at me that this was wrong, that I had to stop immediately.

My eyes flew open and I pushed him away, breathing heavily. He looked at me intently, his breathing deep and calm. "And…?" he started to question me while I still tried to get in my head what just have happened.

"A-and what?" I breathed, swallowing the lump in my dry throat. Natsume smirked. "You liked it, didn't you?" I blushed even more and shook my head quickly, turning my head away. "I-in your dreams. You were the one who liked it."

"Right," he commented and flipped his messy bangs backwards, straightening his back and moved a bit away from me. He lifted his head a bit to the side. "What did you think of it, then..?"

I glared at him with my eyes wide. "Why are you asking me these things?"

"Answer me," he returned with a frown. I cleared my throat silently and licked my dry lips, still feeling the present of his lips, and looked at me feet. "I-I don't know… What did you think of it..?"

His eyebrows raised, a bit surprised that I asked him that, and then he swallowed deeply, as though he needed to think of how to answer my question. His bangs started to cover his crimson orbs. "I think that it's just a little kiss."

To my confusion, I couldn't help but to feel disappointed as he said that. "Just a kiss?" He nodded his head curtly and his eyebrow elevated again. "You think otherwise then?"

I had to think about his words before I shook my head slowly, forcing myself to smile. "N-no. You're right. It was just to see who was right and who wasn't." The male nodded but didn't say anything.

Not knowing what else I could do, I grabbed my glass of juice and decided to go to my own room. As I stood in front of his door, Natsume said, "And, was I right?"

I presented him a smirk, my eyebrow raised. "No. You're horrible at kissing." He showed me a smirk of amusement of his own and then shook his head too, obviously not believing my words.

After that, I left and closed the door behind me with a soft thud. As I walked to my own room, the scene of us kissing replied in my mind over and over again, and I couldn't find the stop button. My heart started to beat in an unhealthy pace again, feeling the butterflies in my stomach and a blush touching my cheeks.

"It was just a kiss, Mikan," I told to myself in a soft whisper as I came into my bedroom. "Just a kiss. A meaningless, innocent, little kiss and _nothing_ more." I chewed on my bottom lip and, after placing my glass on my nightstand, I plopped on my bed, my face buried in the soft pillows; unfortunately for me, it felt like it was more than just a kiss.

* * *

Sam – First of all, I'm sorry for updating so late and slow, but I'm really busy lately. Even though I've got vacation, I also got a lot of stories going on: six, to be exact, and only three of them are up. Don't worry, this story is set on number two of What To Do list. XD

But that aside, what did you think of the kiss scene of Natsume and Mikan? *smirks* From now on, their relationship is really going to change, and if that's a good thing…? Well, you have to find out in the up-coming chapters. ^^

Please review and don't flame.

Much love,  
Unknown Pain


	7. Concealed Feelings

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by –** Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure**

"_Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter VII – Concealed Feelings-**

_He slammed me against the wall and before I could even scream or do anything else, he kissed me on the lips. I widened my eyes and turned my face away from him, trying to shove him away. But as weak as I was, he didn't even budge._

_It didn't take long before he had his face in front of mine again and locked my lips with his. His lips were pressed against mine in a harsh way, trying to make me kiss him back just as readily and heated as he did._

"_No__…" I managed to get out as he left my lips and went for my neck; he lapped my skin before brushing his soft lips over the same spot. I shook my head and frowned, trying not to fall for his tricks. "_No_, Natsume," I hissed and he finally let me shove his head away._

_He looked at me with lustful eyes, his muscled chest rising and falling with his deep pants; everything said that he wasn't going to back away that easily. "You know," Natsume said, his voice deep and set into a whisper. "You only get me more turned on if you struggle like that."_

_My eyebrows immediately raised in surprise, cursing for the fact that I blushed. "WHAT?" I cooed and already tried to shrug him off. "Natsume, we can't... We can't do this!" My hands found his chest again and I tried with all my strength to push him away, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible before something would really go wrong._

_But then, all of a sudden, he grabbed my wrists tightly and pushed them against the wall above my head, ignoring my shriek of shock. Natsume started to place quick butterfly kisses on my collarbone, to my neck, and then nibbled on my ear; I could even feel his smirk when I couldn't stop myself for letting out a weak moan._

_With one hand holding my wrists against each other above my head, he pulled with the other hand the thin strap of my top down my shoulder. I had my eyes closed tightly as he started to do the same actions as before, whimpering sometimes as he bit down on my skin._

_I couldn't move anymore: my heart was racing so fast in an unhealthy pace that I couldn't think clearly anymore, and my panting started to match his._

_I stiffened as he neared his face near my ear, his free hand cupping my breast. "Mikan.. I want you so much.."_

* * *

I woke up and sat up with a gasp, my eyes wide. My breathing was loud and fast, my heart was as though it'd explode any minute, and my lips were dry. I ran my hands over my face, feeling how hot it was.

Every little bit that I just saw flashed through my mind again and more butterflies appeared in my stomach. I recalled the way he touched me and kissed me… Everything felt so real, even though it was a dream; I knew it was because that could _never_ happen to me.

I still could feel the presence of his lips on my neck and when I placed my own hand on it, a shudder went up to my spine.

Why in the world was I dreaming about him anyway? Was it because of what happened yesterday..?

I frowned deeply in frustration and placed my head in my hands as the dream and of what happened yesterday replayed like a stupid movie in my head. I didn't want to think about it or to remember it, but, even so, I still loved the way how it felt to be touched by him, kissed by him… I loved it so much that I wanted that it'll happen again..

I quickly shook my head. "Mikan, stop it," I told myself and lay back down. "This is bad…" It really was: things like this never had to happen… But then, why did it happen? Was it just bad luck or something else?

This was all his fault, I started to think; he made me feel like this. But wasn't it also my fault? I mean, I let him do this after all…

God, what did I bring myself into?

* * *

"Oi, how long are you going to stay in bed?" I groaned tiredly and covered my face with my blankets, pretending that I was still sleeping and didn't hear his voice. "Oi," he called again, this time a bit louder. I swallowed and frowned from beneath my blankets, wishing he just would go away.

His sigh could be heard and then his footsteps; my heart began to speed up as I realized that he went to my direction.

Why couldn't he just leave me alone?

"Don't make me force you," Natsume somewhat warned and then, after some small seconds, I felt his hands on the blankets. "Don't touch me." I immediately responded with the insides of my cheek between my teeth.

He removed his hand slowly. "So you're awake, huh?" he said afterwards.

"Yes, but not awake enough to get out of bed."

"It's two o'clock in the afternoon."

"So…?"

"Get out of bed."

I still refused to remove my blankets from my head and to look at him. "Why do you care?"

"I don't, but our parents do."

"If that's the case then let them get me out of bed themselves. Now, go away." I got annoyed when he hn'ed in an amused way, of course pressing a smirk on his lips. "Didn't sleep well, I see...?"

"Shut up," I retorted, getting more irritated with the moment he stood there, trying to control my heart as I felt his dark gaze cutting through my blankets and touching me. "You dreamed dirty, didn't you?" Not a second later, I removed my blankets from my head and leaned on my elbow, my burning face turned to him to show him a glare. "Would you just stop?"

Natsume smirked seductively yet amused at me. "It was about us, huh…?" I stared at him with widened eyes, my heart beating even faster as I recalled last night's dream, and blushed even more out of embarrassment. "W-w-why would it be about us?"

The male folded his arms in front of his quite muscled chest. "So I was right," I began to glower at him what didn't seem to interest him. "N-no, you're not!"

This amused him way too much because he went to the side of my bed and sat down near me, his crimson eyes glistered from behind his messy bangs. "You dreamed about us having sex, _didn__'__t_ you?"

"AH!" I immediately yelled and lay back down, covering myself with my blankets.

"You know, I never knew you could be perverted."

"Natsume!"

"Why did you dream things like that about us anyway?"

"S-shut up! I never dreamed about us having sex or whatever. Now go!" I lied and stiffened as he pulled the blankets a bit down so only the half of my face could be seen, and let out a small, surprised whimper as he leaned his face near mine, his breath tickling my ear. "Was I good..?"

That was it: I removed the blankets and sat up, getting out of bed from the other side. With one twirl, I eyed him again, my gaze narrowed and my hands turned into fists. Just when I wanted to explode at him, he stood up, digging his hands into his jean pockets. "Good, you're out of bed."

I blinked, not following him. "What..?" Natsume gave me a blunt look, his eyebrow raised. I soon frowned when I found out what his plan was the whole time. "You just did this to get me out of bed, didn't you?"

He nodded simply, his short eyebrow still raised. "Duh." I glared at him again. "You bastard!" The male shrugged, not really impressed, and headed to my direction. "Still, I never expected you to dream about us."

A blush of embarrassment touched my cheeks again. "I never dreamed about you or us together!" I took automatically a step backwards as he stood in front of me, swallowing silently, still trying to look strong though. "But you just admitted that you did." He obviously ignored everything I just said.

"God, Natsume, I never—"

"Was it because of what happened yesterday?" I stared at him in surprise, not expecting him to say anything about it. "Well?" he pushed on a bit impatiently as I just kept on looking at him in silence. I quickly shook my head, my messy bangs covering my eyes as I turned away. "I-I've got no idea what you're talking about… It was just a k-kiss, right?"

"That's my opinion about it," Natsume responded easily, his look still calm and emotionless as before. "You obviously think differently about it." I bit the insides of my cheek hard, wishing that he'd just leave me alone. "You're wrong… I-I share the same opinion about the whole thing as you do," I glanced at him from behind my bangs. "So I don't know what gives you that idea…"

Natsume just looked at me in silence, a suspicious glint could be seen in his cold eyes; I cursed myself for being so bad at lying. He suddenly let out a soft sigh of slight frustration to break the silence that popped up between us, and ran his fingers through his raven hair. He finally said a low "whatever" before I let him pass me.

I had my gaze on my carpet the whole time and after hearing the soft thud of the door, a loud sigh escaped my lungs; now, why was I feeling bad about this?

* * *

"You have to come," Anna almost demanded as she put her hand on the table, leaning a bit closer to my side. I blinked before shaking my head in a tense way. "Forget it." Her pink, thin eyebrows raised immediately. "Why not?"

"Hmm, good question," I responded and tapped my chin with my index finger, pretending as though I was deep in thought. "Maybe because Permy and I are still having a _fight_?"

Nonoko sighed while her gaze was glued on her small mirror, applying her mascara. "Still haven't things cleared up, I see...?" I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest, somewhat scoffing. "She's the one who's at fault, thus it's pretty simple to think that she needs to be the one to take the first steps."

The two girls started to giggle at the exact same time and Anna shook her head, her lips curved into a small, amusing smile. "Both still as stubborn as ever," she said as she looked at the blue-haired one who nodded her head curtly. "The reason why they became friends."

Unlike they did, I couldn't laugh about it and hated the way they were talking. "Would you two just stop it?"

"But it's the truth," Anna returned easily, her smile still presented, and placed her straw between her lips to sip her coke with it. She swallowed down her drink and glanced at me from her eye corners, one of her eyebrows raised questionably. "Right..? And besides, you said to me at the phone you were afraid that Sumire isn't ready for talking yet."

I placed a loose strand of hair behind my ear, nodding my head. "I know, I know…" I first let out a small sigh before I continued, "But I don't even know where she is,"

"She's at home, I think," the pink-haired one told me. "We told her we'd be sitting at a café with you to talk and asked her if she'd like to come too, but she declined the offer." I rolled my eyes away, getting already a bit irritated. "Of course she did."

"Her party is next Saturday," Nonoko said with a smile as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, placing her elbow on the table soon after, her chin on her hand. "Just come with us that day and see what happens, alright?"

"What about Permy, then?"

"We'll take care of her." The two said in unison and soon we all chuckled. I nodded my head a small moment later with a smile pressed on my lips, and said, "Okay, have it your way." The two high-fived each other proudly for winning, and I just let them, slightly amused; maybe things would get better if Sumire and I made up.

* * *

"A party at Sumire's, huh?" my Mom responded as I told her that I was "invited" at her party next Saturday. I nodded and reached my hand out to the bowl with salad. But just when I wanted to grab it, it got snatched away by Natsume who gave me a dry yet simple look, not feeling intimated or whatever at the way I glared at him.

"Do you want to go then?" my mother continued and locked her gaze on me as she pushed her fork, with the piece of meat on it, inside her mouth. As she saw my confused look through the fact that I didn't really get why she asked me that, she added, "You didn't really look or say anything excitedly."

"Oh…" I let out before pressing my back against the back of my chair, my hands on my knees. "I don't know… Anna and Nonoko both want me to come, so…" I gave her a tight smile. "Maybe it'd be fun."

Natsume picked his glass of coke off the dining table. "Don't let her go: before you know it she'll have lost her virginity."

"What?" I cooed immediately while our parents and his sister took the time to get his sentence in their heads. Aoi was the first one that broke the silence that came after I snapped at him with a laugh; I glared at her to make her stop. "Don't laugh!"

"I'm sorry, Mikan," she said between her giggles, trying to do as I said. "But the way Natsume said it made me laugh like this."

"Right…"

Natsume smirked, his eyebrow raised in a challenging way, his arms folded in front of his chest. As if I was going to let him win, "At least I'm not thinking with my _dick_." His own smirk disappeared slowly that already showed that it was my time to show one.

Nobuo laughed as he saw the way my step-brother looked. "She got you there, Natsume." The said male just glared at him, already annoyed.

"Okay, stop it," Mom came between them, a stern look present on her face. "All of you; I don't want to hear such things while we're eating, understood?" We didn't say anything and then after some second, Mom turned her amber eyes to me. "Mikan, you've got my permission to go to Sumire's party, but make sure you take it easy and don't get home late, okay?"

I answered her with a tense nod, not really knowing how to react differently; I didn't even know if I had to be glad or disappointed.

After dinner, as though Nobuo and my mother wanted to punish me, I had to do the dishes. With Natsume. In the kitchen, where nobody else was _besides_ us… Even though the voice in my head tried to calm me by saying everything would be alright, I still was nervous of being alone with him.

I scoffed as I put my hands in the soap-filled water to grab a plate. "Is it the time of the month again?" he commented, his dark gaze locked on the plates he was drying. I immediately shot him a glare. "Shut up with your stupid comments, _jerk_."

The male next to me gave me a dry "what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you?" look, his short eyebrow slightly raised. I stared at him in silence for a quick moment before I cleared my dry throat, turning my attention back to the water. "I'm… sorry. Just let's finish this quickly."

Natsume placed the clean plates on each other, letting out a rather irritated sigh. "It was just a kiss." My neck almost snapped through the fact I faced him quickly. "What?"

"It was just a kiss."

I frowned. "Why are you getting at this again? I told you already that I share the same opinion about it as you." He gave me a cocky look. "You forgot to tell me that you're bad at lying."

I rolled my eyes away from him and let the dirty water drain away through the drain. "Whatever, I'm speaking the truth, so…"

His started to stab my back while I was drying my hands with the towel, and I hated it because only the thought of him watching me made my heart beat go faster. But I tried my best to hide it. "Then tell me the reason for your weird behavior." His voice was curt and deep.

I swallowed as I glanced at him from behind my auburn bangs. "What are you talking about…?" Natsume's cold expression began to grow darker, his crimson eyes twinkling of the suspiciousness. He folded his arms nonchalantly, his back against the sink. "Don't tell me you haven't realized it yet."

My gaze narrowed, not wanting to go through this any longer. "Enough! I'm fine and I'm _not_acting weird. If you don't want to believe my words, _fine_, go ahead, like I care. But don't go and bother me with it." With my hands into my fists, I walked away, but before I could even take two steps he got a hold of one of my arms, and pulled me against him, our faces near each other.

I widened my eyes, a blush creeping over my cheeks as I stared with horror into his eyes. "Can you still say those words you just told me…?" It almost didn't even sound like a question; Natsume's voice had a whisper-like sound, his face just as straight and calm as before. Even his lips nearly didn't move when he said his sentence.

My heart started to race almost in an unhealthy pace when I noticed I had my eyes on his lips, and quickly turned my head away. "W-what… are you trying to do?" I questioned him in the same kind of voice, failing to sound harsh and angry.

"Figuring out if you're really telling the truth or not," he answered easily, like his way of finding out wasn't a big deal. I bit the insides of my cheek as he cupped my chin between his index finger and his thumb, forcing me in to eye him. "I'm waiting for an answer."

It took a while before I opened my mouth, only to stammer some words that didn't make any sense because of the fact I didn't got a clue how to answer his question.

"Hey," As soon we heard Aoi's voice we pushed each other away as quickly as possible. She stepped inside the kitchen with her raven eyebrow raised questionably. "Can I get a clean glass? I'm thirsty."

I cleared my dry throat, trying to look as normal as ever. "A-ah.. yeah. Sure." Just when I wanted to turn around and reach for a clean glass that stood on the sink, her forehead furrowed when she saw my red face and nervous look and shifted without moving her head her attention over to her older brother who just swallowed silently, looking back at her with a dry expression painted on his face. "Did something happen?" Natsume let his bangs cover his eyes more than they normally did, trying to control the sigh of annoyance that he wanted to let out, while I cursed mentally.

"H-how so?" I questioned her with a confused look. Aoi gave me a straight look, suspiciousness still present in her crimson eyes. "I don't know. The atmosphere around here is… strange."

"You're just imagining things," Natsume told her into his famous, emotionless voice. Aoi gave him an irritated glare. "I'm not imagining things!"

"Yeah, whatever," he responded with a roll of his eyes, grabbed a glass and threw it to his sister that she easily caught with two hands. "Here's what you wanted, now go, you're annoying." Her crimson eyes narrowed. "Idiotic bastard," she muttered under her breath just before she did what the male said, and left us alone.

My heart began to speed up again; we were alone for the _second_ time. I stared at him in silence, wondering what he'll do. But he just looked back intently. I bit my bottom lip as hard as I could, trying to control my heart a little bit but the way his eyes were set on me made it impossible.

I darted my attention quickly around me, trying to find something where I could set my eyes on, and stopped at the clock: seven PM.

I had to get out of there.

"I-I'm going upstairs," I informed my step-brother without looking at him, breaking the silence we had in the meantime. I walked away in a quick pace and didn't care that I didn't gave Natsume the time to reply; I just wanted to get away from him.

My mother noticed me and turned her head to the back. "Already done with the dishes?" she asked in a quite surprised tone, and soon even the attention of Nobuo and Aoi shifted from the TV towards me. I blinked and showed them a fake smile, slightly scratching the back of my head. "Ah… yeah."

With that I wanted to walk further, but Nobuo stopped me, "Aren't you going to watch TV with us?" I ignored the hints of disappointment that were present in his voice and shook my head twice. "No… I think I'm going to bed."

Aoi gave me a wide-eyed stare. "Eh? Are you serious? It's only seven PM."

"So? I'm tired."

Mom cocked her head a little bit to the left, her eyebrows furrowing as she stared at me suspiciously, trying to find out what was wrong. I caught the way she looked at me and just smiled at her to let her stop thinking things that were obviously not true. "Don't worry, Mom, nothing's wrong. I'm just… tired, that's all."

It took her a while to change her expression into something less sterner and let out a sigh, nodding her head once. "Alright. Good night." She presented a small smile. As Nobuo and Aoi were done wishing me good night, I headed towards my room and shut the door behind me.

I plopped on my bed and took a deep breath as I recalled everything what happened between me and Natsume in the kitchen: his touching, the way he spoke, his eyes and his intense look… Even thinking about it put butterflies in my stomach.

This was getting bad…

* * *

I looked up as the most beautiful sound I've ever heard popped up: the bell. And as it did, everyone closed their books, grabbed their things and didn't even wait for when the teacher gave them permission to go.

Hotaru and I walked together out of class, going to our lockers. "Finally, the weekend!" I moaned tiredly, hints of relief could be heard in my voice. The female next to me didn't say anything and just looked straight forwards, her eyes on where she was walking. It didn't really bother me; I was already used to her bold, Natsume-like personality.

"Are you going to do something this weekend?" I asked as I put my things into my locker. Hers was just four lockers away. She shook her head curtly. "Not really." She slammed her locker closed. "Lucky," I responded and turned my attention back to my books that I just put away, sighing as I remembered that I had to go to that party of Sumire.

"How so?" Hotaru questioned me as she stood behind me. I shrugged and closed mine, my bag hanging over my shoulder. "I've got a party tomorrow," I told her and faced her again. The black-haired one raised her eyebrow. "And you don't want to go?"

I shook my head before we headed outside. "Then don't go," she told me easily. I rolled my eyes away from her and gave her a matter-of-factly look. "Trust me, if you knew the whole story behind this, you wouldn't even be saying things like that."

"Right. Who's throwing it again..?"

"Sumire Shouda."

"Don't know her." I frowned and opened the doors. "Really? I didn't know that." I returned sarcastically which made her shrug nonchalantly.

We walked to the entrance and I blinked when I saw Anna and Nonoko standing there. As soon as their eyes caught me, they waved their hands at me and called my name. What were they doing there?

I waved Hotaru goodbye when she stepped inside her mother's car before I turned my attention to the "twins". "Hey…" I greeted carefully and immediately got hugged by the two. "Hello!" they greeted back in unison and, what seemed like it took forever, they let me go.

I smiled and flipped my hair over my shoulder. "What are you two doing here?" Nonoko shrugged and smiled back. "Our school ended earlier today so we thought we could go and see you, and to ask if you want to sleep at my house tomorrow."

I slightly frowned in confusion. "Tomorrow…?" The two nodded. "Yeah!" beamed Anna. "Because of Sumire's party. I'm sleeping at her house, too."

"Permy, too?"

Nonoko shook her head. "No; she said it'd be better she stayed home this weekend." I couldn't help to feel slightly relieved about that and just responded with some short nods.

"So, what do you think of it?" asked the blue-haired one to be sure and I smiled at her sweetly. "Sure, sounds like a good idea."

"Alright!" the two squealed in unison, obviously relieved that I accepted their offer. "It'll be fun!" Anna chirped and Nonoko and I just giggled in amusement.

"Do you know how many guests there are coming?" I asked suddenly and couldn't help to be a bit curious about it; she had a big house and Sumire knew a lot of people, thus fifty people wouldn't really surprise me.

"We don't know the exact amount," Anna responded with her eyebrows slightly raised. "But there will be a lot of guests coming ." I replied with a small nod; just as I guessed.

"Oh, hey!" Aoi appeared all of a sudden next to me with a smile. The "twins" greeted back nicely while I just blinked my eyes at her in confusion. "Hey… Where did you just come from..?"

"School," the youngest female returned simply, giving me a dry look. "I still had to discuss something with my teacher. Are you coming, by the way? Dad is waiting for us." She pointed at the grey Mercedes that I hadn't noticed until now.

"Yeah, I'm coming soon," I told her and she walked away after waving Anna and Nonoko goodbye. I turned my attention back to the two as Aoi got into the car. "Ah, almost forgot," Nonoko started suddenly and made in the meantime a ponytail with her hands. "The party starts at eight PM and bring Aoi and Natsume with you."

My good mood fell immediately downwards as soon as I heard the last part of her sentence. "What? Aoi and… Natsume?" Nonoko nodded and gave me a slight confused look, not really getting why I was reacting like that. "Yeah, who else?"

"Why?"

"She said she wanted them to come but she didn't got a clue how to ask them, so we decided to ask it for her."

"So I have to ask them?" I said with an irritated frown. "Besides, it's Natsume we're talking about: he'd decline immediately." Anna furrowed her pink, perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Really? But can't you try? It would also be more fun for him to go to the party, too."

I gave her a slight surprised yet shocked look. "W-what do you mean..?" Wait, does she know about—? "Then there's more people you know who you can be with." She explained with a smile.

A loud sigh of relief escaped my lungs and my heart calmed down a little bit, and I nodded. "Ah… A-alright. But... I think the only way to get him to go with me is to lie."

Nonoko placed her hands on her hips as though she was telling me that it wasn't a big deal. "Just do whatever works." I ran my fingers through my auburn hair, my eyebrows slightly furrowed. "I'm still not very confident about this. What if it goes wrong?"

"We'll see about that," Anna said, not feeling worried or whatever about it like I did. "Just make sure you come, _together_ with Natsume and Aoi, at the party at eight o'clock with all your things for the sleepover, alright?"

I rolled my eyes in an annoyed way but nodded my head nonetheless. "Yeah, yeah. I'll do my best and if things go wrong, I'll call one of you two."

"Okay," Nonoko returned before the two walked off with a smile, waving me goodbye, and I walked to the car and got in.

* * *

I closed my mouth as I was done speaking and… "No." I let out a deep sigh, not feeling surprised at his answer. "Why not?" Natsume raised his eyebrow as his crimson eyes were still locked on the manga pages he was reading. "Why would I…?" My eyes shifted quickly to random things as I was trying to think of a reason why he would go to the party of Sumire. "Uhh… to meet new people?"

He furrowed his forehead for a moment. "Yeah, I don't think so." I pouted childishly, not removing my gaze off him. "Natsume, come on.."

Natsume gazed sideways back through his eyelashes. "Isn't that the party that that perm-haired girl is giving…?"

"Uhh… no." I lied, trying to look as serious as possible. Crimson eyes narrowed, "So I don't know these people?"

"Not really…"

Natsume's attention directly turned back to his manga and flipped over a page. "No." I made the best pout I could make, hoping he'd see it. "Come on! Aoi said she wanted to come too."

"Okay, then I'm coming too."

My expression lightened up and I showed my step-brother immediately a wide smile, not noticing how curt and low his voice was. "For real?"

"No." Seriously, why didn't I expect that?

"Natsume, come on!" He suddenly started to growl in irritation. "Leave me alone already," he said, his voice slightly cracking, and placed his head in his pillows again, his manga on his face.

I just stared at him with a deep frown on my face, getting annoyed as well; why was I still doing this? I'm sure a normal person would already leave the guy. "Please, Natsume," I started to moan, creeping closer to him, but he still didn't remove that manga from his face, "Why do you want me to come so badly?" That took me a while to answer; how was I going to reply to that..? I couldn't say the real reason and I _also_ couldn't say that I just wanted him by my side to keep me company so I wouldn't feel lonely.

Right?

I bit my lip and couldn't help to feel curious about it, "B-because… I don't want to feel lonely when I'm there…"

"You've got Aoi," was his blunt response. I swallowed again and automatically, with a small thought that this might work, reached my hand out for his manga, slowly removing it from his face; he just stared at me with wide eyes as he noticed how my face hung above his.

I could feel a huge blush touching my cheeks and my heart speeding up, yet I didn't remove myself from him. "Yeah… b-but I want you.." My voice was set into a soft whisper. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, the silence surrounding us. And then his surprised expression fainted away into an irritated one and sighed, his warm breath blowing against my face. "Fine," he growled, causing me to blink in surprise. "Now get off me, you idiot."

I did as he said and, with the same blush I still had on my cheeks, I jumped off his bed and twirled around. "Alright! The party starts at eight." He just rolled his rare colored eyes away from me and grunted what seemed to be his answer.

I immediately left his room and fished my phone out of my pocket, texting Anna happily that my mission was completed. As the message was sent, I hurried to my bedroom and grabbed my pajamas and all the other things I needed for the sleepover.

But as I was doing that, I couldn't help to think about how Natsume would react if he'd find out I lied to him… I shook my head a small moment later to get rid of those thoughts, and huffed softly, continuing with packing my bag; as though he'd care.

But just when I thought the whole plan of dragging Natsume into Sumire's party wouldn't fail anymore, I was wrong: when Aoi, he and I stepped inside the crowded house, my step-sister saw Sumire passing by and immediately walked to her to greet her.

Natsume watched her and narrowed his eyes dangerously as he saw Sumire and heard the sentence, "Thank you for inviting me to your party".

"Oi, is this _her_ party…?" the male began in an angry voice and I slowly nodded, not seeing a way to escape. "Y-yeah…"

"Why didn't you tell me that...?" It almost didn't sound as a question anymore. "B-because I know how you dislike Sumire, and Anna and Nonoko asked me if I wanted to bring you wi—"

"Oh, so you only did this for them?" he cut me off, his expression only growing darker. I furrowed my eyebrows and raised them as well. "But if I asked you to come with me, you'd say no anyway," I still tried to defend myself but he just shook his head, brushing his fingers through his messy hair. "Whatever." And without even saying something more, he left me behind.

I growled deep inside my throat, angry about the fact he didn't gave me a chance to explain myself for what I did. "Bastard," I muttered under my breath, slightly hoping he'd hear that even though that was impossible through the loud music that filled every big room in Sumire's big house.

"Hey, where did Natsume go?" Aoi asked me after she stood next to me again, a questionable look present on her face. I just snorted. "Don't know, don't care." Not giving her any time to respond, I left her and decided to go to the "twins" who were, as they said in the text message I got fifteen minutes ago, in the kitchen, waiting for me.

After some long minutes of making my way through thick crowds, I finally got into the kitchen. "Mikan!" Nonoko's voice was the first thing I heard and she, with Anna following her closely behind, quickly headed to me.

We hugged and right after the two let go of me, Anna said, "Glad you made it! Are your step-siblings here, too?" I just nodded my head as an answer and the girls their smile slowly faded away as they noticed the look I was presenting them.

"What's wrong?" Nonoko slowly asked, slightly worried. "Natsume found out," I told her and soon I also shifted my attention on Anna. "Right after we came in, he found out about the whole thing, snapped at me and ditched me. I've got _no __idea_ where that guy is."

"Aoi then?"

"Probably with Permy. I told you two that I didn't had confidence in doing this and _now _you know why."

"Did you mention our names?" Anna questioned and I nodded twice. "Yes, but it only made him angrier and left me."

The pink-haired one tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, well… I'm pretty sure he did that to cool off so give him the time to do that," She let her hand hang beside her body again. "You need to do that too." She smiled and Nonoko nodded her head in agreement. "Totally. Give me that bag and I'll bring it upstairs."

"So you can have your time on your own," the other female added in a cheerful voice, winking playfully her sky-blue eye at Nonoko and before I could even do something, she twirled me around and pushed me out of the kitchen.

"H-hey, Anna!" I yelled to make her stop, but she just acted as though she didn't hear a sound I just made. "This is a party, so stop showing that long face and shape _up_!" Right after she said the last word of the sentence, she pushed me forward.

Not expecting it, I couldn't control my balance and bumped against the back of an unknown girl who turned around in confusion. I took some small steps backwards, blushing in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry… I-I didn't mean to—"

"Aren't you that girl that just came in?" the girl asked me instead of accepting my apologies. It took a while to know what she was talking about and nodded. "Ah, yeah…"

"Well, your boyfriend is dancing with another girl," I titled my head to the side, giving her the "what-are-you-talking-about?" look. "B-boyfriend?"

She nodded and raised her eyebrow slightly in surprise. "Yeah, that raven-haired lad you came in with," She pointed to her left and I immediately followed her finger to see what she was talking about; I saw Natsume with a blonde-haired girl, standing not far away from where I stood.

The two where dancing in a sexy way; the girl turned with the back to him and he slightly pressing his body against hers. A sudden feeling of surprise popped up inside of me as I saw him dancing like that with an other girl, and soon that feeling started to change in something nagging, something that hurt.

"If I were you, I'd have already beat the living thing out of him," that unknown girl her voice ran through my ears while I had my attention locked on the two beings not far away from me. Natsume his hands roamed around her hips and she seemed to enjoy the way he touched her, just like _he_ did.

"Or aren't you jealous?" Her yellow eyes turned to me, waiting for my reaction. I swallowed and had my forehead furrowed without even me noticing it, only seeing Natsume and that girl. "No," I finally answered that question and watched, as though it was a movie, how that blonde female removed from his grip and turned around, pressing her body against him, her lipstick covered lips turned into a seductive smile, their legs moving on the beat. And Natsume just let her, _let __her_ press her body against him and just let her look at him with lustful eyes.

"No, I'm not." I said again, trying to convince not only her but also myself for not being jealous or whatever at what I saw happening there almost in front of me. But then… why didn't that nagging feeling disappear?

* * *

Sam – And here is the next chapter! :D Mikan and Natsume are only getting closer to each other, and there will come a point where everything is getting out of hand. When that will happen? Soon, I promise. ;)

Now seeing Natsume dancing with an other girl, what will Mikan do? You'll all will read in the next chapter. ^^

Also, I've decided to give this story the rating-T because, like I said before, I will not write LEMONS or other things that has to do with the M-rating. I will go far with some love scenes, yes, but I'll make sure that it fits in the rating T. I hope you all understand it and I'm sorry for the ones who actually were waiting for the LEMONS and wanted this story to be a M. :(

Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked it. Please review and don't flame.

Much love,  
Unknown Pain.


	8. Jealousy Makes the Best Out of You

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by –** Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure **

"_Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try."_

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter VIII – Jealousy Makes the Best Out of You-**

I disliked it. I disliked the way they were pressed against each other. I disliked the way they were dancing on the red carpet. I disliked the way they looked at each other. I disliked the way their faces were so close together that I was sure they could feel each other's breath.

The anger that boiled up inside of me made me _hate_ the whole scene I was seeing not far away from me.

What the hell was Natsume doing with that whore-looking girl? Dark blue skinny-jeans, wearing a black crop top that almost exposed her breasts… Ugh, didn't he hate that kind of girls?

Natsume neared his face near her ear and whispered something that obviously made that whore giggle. After he closed his mouth when he was done whispering, he started to nibble her ear; my jaw tensed.

My heart started to speed up out of surprise when he suddenly shifted his crimson orbs over to mine. He looked at me for a moment as though he wanted to make sure that I really was looking back at him, his forehead furrowed almost in irritation. My confusion rose when his expression changed and he curved his thin lips into a mischievous smirk.

What was he smirking about?

My step-brother faced the girl again and to my utter surprise, he closed the distance between the two with an heated-looking kiss. I looked with my eyes wide, and my forehead furrowed in disgust, at how the two made out.

I let my anger slowly grow as I noticed what he was trying to do: that bastard tried to make me _jealous_.

I huffed curtly and while shaking my head in dismay, I turned around and walked away with my hands clenched into fists.

I made my way to the hallway, where also some people were standing chatting with each other, and walked up the stairs to Sumire's bedroom where I thought Nonoko put my stuff there.

A string of relief went through me as I saw that my thoughts where right. I stepped over my green bag and sat down on Sumire's bed, letting out a deep breath.

The picture of Natsume dancing with that whore-looking girl automatically flashed in my mind again. I chewed my bottom lip out of irritation that grew with every second I thought about it.

"Oh…" I suddenly heard and rocked my face up to see Sumire standing in an awkward manner in the doorway. I just looked back at her in silence, not really knowing what to say back.

"What are you doing here…?" The girl raised an eyebrow, leaning with one of her shoulders against the doorway. "Uhh…" I first only said, surprised about the fact that she actually tried to have a conversation with me. "Getting away from the noise." I presented her a tight yet fake smile to show her that nothing was wrong.

Of course, she didn't take it.

The female in front of me only looked at me suspiciously, her thin, green eyebrows a bit furrowed. "I saw Natsume dancing with an other girl," she said to break the sudden silence we started to have, causing me to blink before I nodded my head curtly to respond, eyeing away.

Sumire removed herself from the doorway and headed to my direction, sitting on her queen-sized bed beside me. "Are you jealous?" I directly gazed at her again with wide eyes, somewhat gaping. "Of course not!"

The suspicious glint in her dark gaze didn't go away. "You sure…?" she returned, placing her hands behind her on her blue sheets and leaned on it. "It's definitely clear that you don't like it."

"So…?" I frowned and eyed my shoes as though I found them interesting. "That doesn't mean anything." Sumire sighed next to me and brushed her bangs away, sitting up straight again. "You know, Mikan," she started her sentence and faced me, a calm but also a serous expression painted on her face. "Natsume has a thing for you."

My eyebrow elevated immediately, looking at her with a blunt expression, waiting for what she had to say more because I really didn't get what she was saying. When the female next to me began to make a deep frown on her forehead, I directly knew that she noticed my look, "Oh, come on; don't tell me you haven't noticed that,"

"Noticed what…?"

Sumire opened her mouth a bit widely and let the air escape her lungs in a loud yet irritated way, brushing her thin fingers through her dark green locks. She eyed me without moving her face to my direction. "He's _trying_ to make you jealous."

"Oh, I know that," I directly returned as though it was nothing and soon the irritation began to pop back up inside of me again. "That bastard smirked all over the place when he noticed that I was watching them."

Sumire still looked at me from the sideways of her, with mascara-covered, lashes, one of her eyebrows raised in a cocky manner. "And you don't find that suspicious at all?" I shook my head simply. "Not really, that's what he always does."

Her expression didn't change. "So you have never thought about it?" I looked at her for a moment and shook my head again; now that she was talking about it, it was a bit… weird that he acted like that towards me. But even so, I still not really believed that there had a meaning behind all of that.

The girl next to me shook her head in displeasure, giving me the "you're-stupid" look.

"Don't give me that look!" I snapped, pouting a bit.

"Why did you never thought about it like normal people would do?"

"Because it _doesn't mean anything_!"

Sumire placed a loose, curly lock behind her ear. "Oh really now...?" A frown appeared on my forehead and I shook my head twice in a stubborn way. "Yes."

"May I ask why?"

"Or else he'd kiss me and not that whore that's almost ripping his clothes off with her eyes." Sumire lifted her head a bit to the left for a second, her eyebrows raised. "True, but I'm pretty sure he has a reason for that; I mean… you two _are_ step-siblings."

I folded my arms in front of my chest. "That has nothing to do with it," I returned curtly. The female sighed a soft yet high sigh and crossed her legs over each other, her hands at each side of her again. "Just admit that you like him, Mikan."

I gave her a wide-eyed stare; how could she say such things? "I don't like him!" Sumire her lip corners started to curl up into a small smirk. She shrugged her shoulders afterwards. "Alright, alright, whatever. But are you really gonna let Natsume win?"

I immediately shook my head in a determined way. "Of course not."

Her smirk grew and her brows started to winkle out of amusement and mischievousness. "Then I suggest you're going to get him back with the same game he's playing with you right now." I raised my thin brow. "You want me… to make him jealous…?" My voice dripped from surprise.

Sumire nodded her head twice, not making a big deal out of it.

"Oh come on," I retorted. "He'll only huff and laugh at me if I do that." She shrugged again. "You'll only find out if you're going to do it,"

"Permy!"

"_Fine_," she finally returned, a look of annoyance written all over her face. She sighed in frustration, giving up. "If you don't want to do it and let Natsume think he's better than you and be the winner, it's fine by me. But if I were you, I'd know what to do."

I just pouted as a response to what she said, not knowing what else I could do. Because through what she said, I didn't know what I had to believe anymore.

Sumire stood up and walked to the door, but just when she stood in the doorway she halted her steps and turned her attention to me. "By the way," she said, ignoring my questionable look I was returning to her. She swallowed a bit in an awkward way, eyeing away for a split second. She scratched her cheek in the meantime. "Are we… cool?"

I looked at her for a moment and then I smiled a bit, surprised but also relieved that she brought that up. "Do you feel sorry?" I questioned her half-jokingly and Sumire simply rolled her eyes away from me before she nodded her head curtly, an own smile on her lips. "You?"

"Yeah," I said honestly and her smile brightened. With a nod she left me in her big bedroom.

I sighed slightly in relief and pushed both my hands through my long locks, deciding that it was time to go downstairs. Just when I pushed myself off bed, my phone suddenly started vibrating in my jean pocket, making me plop back down on the blue sheets.

I fished the vibrating object out of my pocket, blinking in confusion when I saw on the screen a text message of a number that I didn't even know of. Still curious about what the message would say, I quickly opened it.

"_Jealous?"_ is what it said and the slight fear that I felt because someone had my number while I didn't know him changed into annoyance; that _bastard_.

"_How the hell did you get my number?"_ I huffed after I clicked on "send", and crossed my arms in front of my chest, waiting for what I'd get back.

"_Our lovely sister gave it to me."_ A frown started to appear on my forehead and my irritation grew more. _"I hate her now."_ I send back honestly, wanting to insult him.

"_Just admit you're jealous and we're done."_ I got back an half minute later. My eyebrows both elevated out of surprise. _"There's nothing to admit when it's not even true."_

"_I saw you looking at us and I saw your expression, so don't lie."_ I swallowed my dry throat and chewed on the insides of my cheek, trying to think of a good comeback. After a small moment, I curved my lips into a sly yet confident smirk and texted back, _"Even if you banged the girl, I don't give a shit."_

"_I don't believe you."_ For God's sake… _"Why not?"_

"_Because you like me." _

I widened my eyes when I read those words, staring at it while a slight blush crept over my cheeks. _"You're my step-bro.."_ I only returned and it didn't take long before I got back a _"So?"_

"_I DON'T like you, Natsume."_

"_Are you never getting tired of this…?"_

I sighed in irritation, glaring at my phone as though it was it's fault. _"Die."_ I replied back, hoping that he wouldn't text back and leave me alone already.

But as always, I was wrong, _"I don't like you either."_ His sudden words made me feel surprised.

The surprise feeling disappeared and an aching one started to came in its place; for some reason, his words hurt me…

I decided not to text back and put my phone back into my pocket. I cursed myself in my thoughts, wondering what the hell I was doing; I was at a party so I had to dance, forgetting my worries for a moment, and not sitting in someone else's bedroom, being all in a bad mood just because of what a boy said. And not knowing the reason behind of it made it all worse.

"Hey, Mikan, you here?" I suddenly heard the voice of Anna and not two seconds later, she and the blue-haired Nonoko stepped inside the room. As soon as our eyes met each other, they presented me a wide yet beaming smile. "There you are!" they exclaimed in unison.

It took me a moment to smile back at them, trying the best I could to present the same one as they did, but unfortunately, I failed at doing so.

"Why are you sitting here?" Nonoko asked me with one of her thin eyebrows raised. I shrugged a bit in a nonchalant manner. "Trying to get some peace," I told them half-honestly. "How did you two know that I was here?"

"Sumire," Anna said and placed her hands on her hips, giving me a slight smirk. "So everything's cool between you two?" I nodded my head twice and the two girls sighed immediately in a loud way, relieved that I and Sumire weren't having a fight anymore.

"Wanna go back downstairs?" Nonoko asked me as she signed with her head to the hallway. I just looked at the two, having a small battle with my thoughts if I had to go with them, seeing Natsume again and feeling uncomfortable, or just sit here and drown in my irritation and sorrow.

"Sure," I finally said after ten seconds of silence with a smile curved on my lips. I stood up and and followed the "twins" down the slight crowded stairs.

We all went to the area where everyone was dancing on the loud music.

The three of us danced on the beat as soon as we found our spot in the huge crowd, giggling and smiling in amusement, having fun. I sometimes looked around to see if Natsume was there as well. But as soon as I found out that he wasn't, I calmed down and wanted to have more fun than I already was having.

I suddenly caught a guy from around my age looking at me. He was dancing not far away from where I, Nonoko and Anna were standing. He had dark green hair that hang in front of his mysterious raven eyes: he was good-looking so I smiled at him to let him know I was interested in him. He returned the smile and it didn't take long before the guy stood in front of me.

We danced close to each other, our bodies almost touching, and his face near mine. I smiled almost daring him to do more, while he smirked seductively. He noticed my smile because his hands roamed around my waist and hips, and I enjoyed it.

I suddenly felt that someone was watching us. I turned my attention to the direction where that came from, seeing through the dancing people Natsume. His expression was everything besides happy; his thin lips were pushed into a tight line and his messy bangs were covering his crimson, narrowed eyes. He was not only giving a dangerous look at that guy I was dancing with, but also me.

I didn't get what he was glaring about; was he jealous…?

All of a sudden, the green-haired male leaned his face next to mine and nibbled gently on my ear, making me slightly stiffen in surprise. I gazed back at Natsume who's look began to turn into something that screamed terrible things.

He really _was_ jealous.

I suddenly thought back at what he did and what Sumire said, and a smirk started to appear on my glittered lips, hoping Natsume would see it. When he narrowed his eyes even more I knew he'd seen my smirk and turned my attention back to the male I was dancing with.

I leaned my face closer to his and then closed the distance we were having. He immediately returned the kiss, deepening it even. After some quick seconds, I opened my eyes and searched for the other male who was watching me. Just when I found him, I saw he just had turned around, ready to leave.

Instead of feeling bad or anything, I felt amused and victorious; served him just right.

* * *

Nonoko plopped onto her bed with a loud and long sigh, her beautiful dark blue locks spread across her light green sheets. "I'm _exhausted_!" she exclaimed with her eyes closed.

Anna nodded her head in agreement while she had her attention on the small mirror she had in her hands, removing her makeup with a small, damp cloth. "Same," she responded to her best friend. "But it was fun, right?" She looked up at us for a small moment to see our reaction; Nonoko sat up and nodded her head excitedly and made an "uh-huh" sound while I just nodded my head twice with a wide smile.

"We need to do this more often," Nonoko suggested after she grabbed her hair brush and brushed her long hair gently as though she was afraid to hurt herself.

Anna nodded and then turned her sky-blue eyes to me. "Did you get the guy's phone number?" I blinked my eyes for a moment before smiling a bit in embarrassment, continuing with removing my top. "Yeah…"

The two females immediately squealed. "Are you going to call him?" the blue-haired one asked, her lips turned into a wide smile. After I put on my pajama shirt on I shook my head twice. "Nah, I don't think so."

The two gave me a look that screamed disappointment. "Why not?" the two whined, both raising their perfectly-shaped eyebrows. I smiled tightly, slightly amused at how they were acting, but shrugged curtly. "Not really interested in him; one time is enough."

Nonoko gave me a surprised look. "You serious?" she first returned. When I nodded she said, "But he's pretty hot and you seemed to have a good time with him back then."

"I did," I admitted and put on my pajama pants, plopping down on my mattress after I was done. "But that was about it."

"Okay.." was all what I got back from the two girls, their voice still a bit low from being disappointed, but they both decided not to complain further about it.

After we all were done with getting ready for bed, Nonoko turned off the light and got into bed while Anna and I lay down on our mattresses.

We all were tired of the party and going straight to bed would be a good idea.

Just when I closed my eyes, I heard my phone vibrating next to me. I frowned and quickly grabbed it, not wanting to disturb Anna and Nonoko.

"_What the hell were you doing?"_ I immediately knew who send me the text message and slightly smirked in amusement. _"I'm sleeping."_ I texted back dryly to show him that I totally wasn't afraid of him.

"_Answer me."_ I got back a small minute later.

"_I've got no idea what you're talking about."_

"_You tried to make me jealous with that green-haired bastard, didn't you?"_

"_That green-haired bastard has a name, you know…? And were you jealous?" _

"_No._"

"_Then why did you had a look that said you'd kill him?"_ I returned cockily, not wanting to lose from him again. This time, it took him some time to text back, _"You're an idiot for thinking I'd get that easily jealous."_ I frowned at that, somewhat insulted. _"Just admit you were jealous."_

"_I'm not as stupid as you are."_ I immediately got back.

"_I WASN'T JEALOUS!"_ I glared at my phone out of annoyance.

"_What do I have to do to make you admit that you're in love with me?"_ Speechless, I stared at the text message, not believing that he'd actually said that. I narrowed my eyes when I felt my cheeks starting to heat up. I swallowed, trying to think of a good comeback.

"_A lot."_ I finally send back, not noticing that I was actually challenging him. _"Fine by me."_ I got back an half minute later.

I didn't get it; why did he care?

I bit my bottom lip and put my phone away, placing my head into my thick pillows and pulled the sheets almost over my head. I felt nervous, not knowing what Natsume would do.

I groaned underneath my breath, furrowing my eyebrows while I was insulting myself for being so stupid that I actually said, "A lot," instead of just ignoring him and trying to get some sleep.

I could only expect the worse, couldn't I…?

* * *

The next day the three of us got woken up by Nonoko's mom, who was a bit irritated for the fact that it was already twelve PM and we weren't up yet. We all just groaned sleepy with our eyebrows furrowed, not ready to get up yet. Even Nonoko told her mother to go away.

"I don't think so," the adult said in a strict voice. "It's time to get up." I didn't even respond to that while Anna and Nonoko let out a groan again, begging her to let them sleep a little longer.

Nonoko's mother sighed. "Thirty minutes." She left the bedroom, closing the door with a soft thud.

It was silence for a while; every one of us had our eyes closed, trying to fall asleep again. But after some minutes of trying, I furrowed my forehead and slowly opened my eyes, rubbing in it as I realized how heavy they felt.

I let some air escape my mouth as I sat up straight, looking through half-closed eyelids at the "twins". "Hey," I began in a messed up voice, not wanting to be the only one who couldn't sleep again.

The two slightly moved. "Wake up."

Nonoko moaned softly and turned around, trying to ignore me. I got irritated and pouted when I noticed that Anna still lay peacefully on her mattress like nothing had happened.

I grabbed my pillow and threw it to Nonoko who immediately sat up when the soft object touched her head.

Her face was written with utter surprise, as though something horrible had happened to her. "What the fuck?" She first eyed me through her eye corners before her whole face turned to me. An irritated glare started to form on her sleepy face. "Mikan, what the _hell_?"

I just gave her a nonchalant look back, just stopping myself from yawning. "You didn't wake up when I called you, so I threw a pillow at you."

"Why?" she questioned, her dark eyebrows furrowed. She ran her hands through her loose, messy hair. "It's Sunday for God's sake."

"I didn't want to be the only one who had woken up."

Nonoko narrowed her eyes at me before she yawned. As she did so she shifted her attention to the pink-haired Anna who was still in dreamland. "Anna," the female began, too tired to actually yell or scream at her. The said girl didn't move her peaceful body. "Anna, wake up." Still nothing.

That made Nonoko frown out of irritation and threw my pillow back at me, pointing at Anna. I nodded my head only once, knowing what she was talking about. She grabbed her own pillow and at the same time, we threw our pillows to Anna.

"Ow…!" we finally heard. She pushed the pillows from her head, slightly sitting up with a weak glare through her tiredness.

"Good morning," Nonoko greeted her with a small smile but Anna just pouted. "Why did you do that?" Her voice cracked of just waking up.

"To wake you up," I told her. "It's almost 12:30 PM. If we don't hurry, Nonoko's mom is going to scold us." Anna sighed loudly in frustration and let her head fall into her pillow again. "Awh, man…"

After some minutes, we finally got out of our beds and headed downstairs to get something to eat and to get scolded by Nonoko her mother. After that we went back upstairs to get dressed.

"Should we go somewhere, or something?" Anna suddenly suggested as she combed her wavy pink hair, her face turned to me. I raised my eyebrow in a questionably manner. "Like…?"

The female shrugged at that. "I don't know… Central Town?" I nodded sideways and threw the pajama shirt on the grey carpet, near my bag. "That actually sounds like a nice idea."

"I agree too," Nonoko said with a smile, eyeing us for a split moment before she shifted her attention back to the clean clothes she picked out of her closet. "I'm going to take a shower. See you in fifteen minutes!" She disappeared into the bathroom.

"Should we ask Sumire too..?" Anna asked slowly, not really certain if it'd be the right thing to ask. I blinked twice but then I nodded, showing her that I didn't had any problems with it. "Sure. It'd be fun." I said to as her as I put on my light pink blouse, watching at the way the girl smiled in relief.

* * *

Sumire inhaled the fresh Autumn air and exhaled it loudly. A smile was pressed on her lips that she had covered with pink-glittered lip-gloss. "Ah, I surely missed this." Her dark green eyes scanned the crowded streets of Central Town.

Anna giggled slightly in amusement and soon nodded her head in agreement, flipping her wavy hair over her shoulder. "I know, right? Because of school we don't have that much time anymore to go shopping with each other, or going out."

I furrowed my eyebrows, totally agreeing with what Anna said. "Sometimes I wished school didn't exist."

"Though, we also have to be lucky we can go to school; without it we wouldn't even know the history of the world or our country." Nonoko pointed out with her index finger raised in a matter-of-factly manner. Sumire and I just looked at her (Sumire sideways through her eyelashes, while I faced her properly), both presenting her a look that said, "Please, shut up."

"Hey," Anna suddenly began, making us turn our attention to her, wondering what was wrong. She blinked her sky-blue eyes twice before narrowing them as though she wanted to be sure of something. "Isn't that… Natsume and Ruka?"

I immediately halted my steps as soon as her sentence ran through my ears and automatically my heart began to have a faster speed when I saw that Anna was speaking the truth.

While I had my eyes wide out of horror, my three friends were happy to see the two males. The "twins" waved at them while calling their names, causing Ruka handsomely wave back.

"Hey," the blonde male greeted when the two stood in front of us and like always, he was the only one who presented us a friendly smile.

The three girls that stood next to me greeted back excitedly (Sumire more flirty, actually), but I just kept my mouth shut, swallowing my dry throat nervously.

Even though I had my eyes on Ruka, I still could see my step-brother standing almost behind him, his hands in his pockets to give him more of a calm yet uncaring attitude.

His dark orbs were surprisingly turned to me.

"What are you two doing here?" Nonoko asked, placing a loose lock of her dark hair behind her ear. Ruka shrugged and eyed Natsume for a small second before he faced us again. "We were bored and wanted go somewhere, and this is the place where we ended. You?"

"We wanted to do something together before school is going to kill us," Sumire said with one hand on her hip, her voice a bit blunt. Ruka chuckled at that.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" the pink-haired one suggested happily. I stared at her with a face that screamed the word "no", not believing that she actually _asked_ that. Of course Nonoko and Sumire agreed with her idea, "Yeah, it'll be fun." The green-haired one said with a smile and Nonoko immediately nodded her head twice afterwards.

Wasn't my opinion interesting anymore?

"Yeah, sure," Ruka turned to his best friend. "You fine with it, too, Natsume?" The said male just shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way, not really giving a damn about it. Nonoko giggled and nodded once her head. "Okay then, let's go!"

They continued their steps. I just had no choice but to follow them, my pace a bit slow; everything about me showed that I really wasn't happy that they joined us. Well, Ruka wasn't a problem, but that idiotic pervert that I had to call "my step-brother" was.

After what we texted to each other, I couldn't help but to feel a bit… nervous and afraid to be around him; I was positive that he was going to do something... But through the fact I didn't know what, I wished even harder for a miracle that might help me to get me back home.

Natsume walked in front of me, next to Ruka, and had his attention on the road he was walking on. He looked like he just wanted to get out of here and not that he had something on his mind. But still, I made sure there was some space between us.

The three girls decided to go to a famous game shop to get some new games they heard about, and the two boys and me just followed them inside the building.

Nonoko, Anna, Sumire and Ruka went to a section they were interested with while I started to walk through the big shop, deciding it'd be better than to stand around like an idiot.

There was a dark area behind a small corner that caught my attention. Surprisingly, the place was deserted even though there had a lot of rows full with games with the horror genre.

Then, just out of blue, I felt two strong yet muscled arms snaking around my waist, causing me to gasp out of shock.

"Be quiet," the person behind me commanded curtly, his deep voice set into a whisper. The string of fear I felt just a second ago faded away. "Natsume, what the hell…?" I hissed through my teeth, my facing heating up while my forehead deeply furrowed.

"Don't talk," he breathed into my ear, causing me to shiver in his arms. "You don't want them to hear us, right..?"

I couldn't turn around and face him; he had his front pressed strongly yet gently against my back, his arms still around my waist with my hands on his. "What are you doing?" I asked him in an angry way, my voice still low to make sure we wouldn't be caught.

"How far do I need to go before you'd actually push me away?" the older one questioned back, his voice seductively.

I blinked at what I heard, not following him. Everything became clear, though, when I suddenly felt his lips on my neck. I stiffened and with a small whimper I began to struggle, but Natsume tightened the grip around me, ignoring everything and just continued.

My heart was acting as though it was going to explode right then and there. I felt almost paralyzed.

I pushed my head automatically backwards when Natsume started to bit down on my skin, lapping it.

I didn't know what was happening to me; my chest was rising and falling quickly, showing clearly that I was starting to get heated. "No…" I still managed to get out, really wanting him to stop because I knew that if he just continued, bad things would happen.

"Why? You're liking it." Natsume removed himself from my neck and instead of that, he started to move one of his hands down my waist to my thighs; I sensed his eyes locking onto me to watch every reaction I made.

"Natsume, don't," I said harsher this time and grabbed his moving hand, stopping it before it reached the edge of my pants.

I turned around to face him. I tried to look as furious as possible, but somewhere in my head told me that I was wasting my time.

The said male just looked back at me with his usual emotionless expression, but his rare eyes told me different things. "Why…?" I breathed at him curtly, not knowing what else I could say. Natsume raised his short, raven brow somewhat in a cocky way, his lips into a small yet seductive smirk. "Why are you enjoying this while you don't even like me?" His voice was so husky that it made it sound like a statement.

Before I could even give a comeback we heard the voices of Anna and Nonoko who called my name, followed by the voice of Ruka who called the male in front of me, and when there was no answer, the loud yet impatient voice of Sumire came.

Natsume easily removed himself from me and headed to our friends' direction as though nothing had happened, leaving me behind to calm myself down which… didn't really work.

The butterflies in my stomach became more and more, and my heart just ignored my wishes of slowing down. I chewed on my bottom lip and ignored the slight pain that appeared because of it, wanting every feeling, every thought about wanting more, about _him_, to be gone, to leave me alone already. Yet, it was like I didn't had control anymore.

"Mikan!" the loud voice of Sumire ran through my ears and finally snapped me out of thoughts. "I-I'm coming!" I quickly shouted back and headed in a quick pace to the waiting group.

"Finally," Sumire commented as she set her dark eyes on me, her thin eyebrows a bit furrowed in irritation for waiting a bit longer than she had to do with Natsume. She placed her hands on her hips to look stern. "Where were you?"

I didn't look into her eyes; I had my head low so my bangs covered mostly my eyes, because I knew that my face was still red and the last thing I wanted was that they'd see it, and ask questions that were impossible for me to answer.

I rubbed the back of my neck, clearing my throat. "I'm… sorry. I had my attention elsewhere." It surprised me that Sumire only hn'ed a bit, followed by a word that told everyone that she actually didn't care about it anymore, despite the fact that it annoyed her.

I was relieved that everyone changed the subject into where we're going now. Right after Ruka came with the idea to get something to drink, we went thought the door outside to meet the busy roads of Central Town again.

Just like last time, I walked at the back of the group, not minding that I didn't look like I belonged with them.

Natsume was in front of me, walking behind Anna. It seemed he didn't notice the way I tried to cut his back with my dark glares, screaming in my head the best insults I could think of. But it didn't take long before I stopped and let out a long sigh, feeling a small shiver going through my body when I remembered his hands over my thighs.

I wanted to be mad at him for what he just did in the store, even hate him for it, but I couldn't find any anger inside me to make it possible. Instead of that, I found a ticklish yet light feeling that I always felt when I was in love.

I blinked my eyes, my lips slightly parted out of shock and surprise. There was no way I could be in love with him, I thought. Right…? I shook my head automatically, swallowing my dry throat silently in the meantime, trying the best I could to convince myself that I didn't like him.

I turned my attention back to Natsume who was busy ignoring Sumire's idiotic questions to know him better.

But, I wondered, what about him? There was no chance he had feelings for me, like Sumire said. But then, what were his reasons to do these things to me…? Was he bored or did he just use me for his sexual needs?

I felt slightly hurt when I thought about that and bit the insides of my cheek; would it be a good idea if I asked him?

It didn't take long before I made up my mind and nodded curtly to myself. "I'll ask him when we're at home," I didn't realize I actually said it out loud instead of thinking it until the others turned around to face me. "What?" Nonoko questioned me a bit in confusion. I immediately shook my head, not wanting them to think strange things. "N-nothing."

I quickly pointed at a café where Anna used to work. "Let's go eat there."

"Are you serious?" the pink-haired one directly returned, her eyebrows furrowed in protest. "I don't want to go there anymore." I quickened my pace so I'd walk beside her, nearing in the meantime the café. "Come on," I said with a smile. "We're only going to drink something, right? Before you know it we'll be out of there."

Anna looked at me with still the same expression. When she heard the others agreeing with my plan, she showed me childish pout and sighed in defeat. "Fine, let's go then."

* * *

When Natsume and I came home, I wanted to ask him. But as I realized that we were the only ones in the house, I somewhat freaked out.

"W-where are our parents…?" I questioned nervously, to break the silence we had when we got into the empty living room.

Natsume snorted in irritation and ruffled his messy hair. "Away, apparently. Those idiots probably thought we wouldn't be back yet."

"Ah…" I only let him hear and watched him, with my green bag from the sleepover holding tightly in front of me, plopping down on the couch, turning on the TV.

I swallowed my dry throat, wondering if it'd be now the right chance to ask.

Natsume's crimson eyes flickered to mine, his face unmoved. His eyebrow slightly raised in a questionable manner. "What…?"

Now, Mikan.

"U-uhh…" I cleared my throat in the hope I'd find the right words to say. "W-why… Why, uhm.." Confusion started to be present on the male's face. He was obviously calling in his head how an idiot I was. "'Why', what?"

I already started to blush and eyed away, giving up. "N-never mind. I'm going upstairs." And as quickly as I could, I made my way to my bedroom. Mortified, I berated myself and wondered why the hell it was so difficult to confront him about it. Was I afraid of his reactions, perhaps?

Just when I opened my bedroom door and threw the bag somewhere in the room, Natsume called me; immediately my heart started to speed up again. "W-what?" I almost sneered, slowly turning around to find him standing right in front of me, the distance between us very small.

"What did you wanted to ask?" His voice was just set into something calm and emotionless, like always, yet his face was dripping out of curiosity and slight confusion. I shook my head, signaling him already to forget about it. "N-nothing… special,"

His eyebrows, that first were a bit raised, lowered down. "Tell me." Again, I shook my head, this time a bit faster. I refused to look him straight into his eyes.

Natsume started to look at me from head to toe, suspiciousness jumping around in his piercing-looking eyes. "Is it about what happened in the game shop...?" He wasn't even sure of himself but when he saw my wide-eyed stare out of surprise, his face lightened up into something more secure. "So, what do you want to ask?"

Suddenly, it wasn't as difficult anymore to ask him about it, "W-why did you do it…?" His straight expression didn't change when he returned, "Why did you like it?"  
I just blinked my eyes at him, not expecting he'd return something like that. "Because you like me," he somewhat "answered" the question for me, not missing the fact how my blush darkened. "I-I don't like you, you idiot."

"Yes, you do. That's why you were also jealous when you saw me with that girl," Natsume wasn't, I figured, planning to give up that easily. I swallowed loudly and shook my head once again, automatically gazing away. "No... you're wron—"

"Really now…?" He crept his face closer to mine, ignoring the way how my eyes slightly grew and my face slightly backed away from his out of surprise. His thin lips were pushed into a small smirk out of cockiness. "I saw your look, stupid. You hated to see me with that girl because you wanted to be her instead."

I bit my bottom lip, placing one foot behind me to support myself more. "If… If I were jealous, then you were so too."

Natsumes smirk directly fainted away. "You did that on purpose," I frowned. "So did you…" The frown immediately disappeared when he presented his infamous smirk again. I cursed myself loudly in my head for admitting I was jealous.

"B-but even so," I began my sentence slowly, trying give him a matter-of-factly look. "If it worked to get you jealous then it means you're feeling something for me, too." Natsume shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way, not making a big deal out of it. "And so what if I am…?"

I just stared at him as though he told me something in a different language that I never heard of. Before I could even react, he kissed me gently on the lips. I automatically shut my eyes tightly, still finding it difficult what he did.

Some seconds later, he slightly moved away from me, looking intensely at my red face; I turned away. Somewhere in my head there was a small voice that yelled at me that there was still a chance to escape: just step backwards through the door and shut it in front of his face, but it was like my heart and body had a different opinion about it.

Natsume's reduced the gap we where having between us and when I slightly turned my face to his direction, his lips locked with mine again. This time I just let him take control over me and kissed back.

As the moment went by, the kiss turned from innocent-looking into something more heated, our lips brushing against each other readily and our tongues exploring each other's mouths.

He pressed his body against mine and I tried my best to ignore my muscles tensing up out of surprise when I felt his erect.

Our deep pants from anxiety could be heard while our mouths were still moving against each other. The male removed himself from me, saying something about his bed being more comfortable than mine and grabbed my hand.

Something hit me when he tugged me to his room and a slight string of fear could be felt; his bed…? He closed the door behind him with a soft thud before he pulled me to him, his mouth on mine again. I didn't struggle but something inside me changed now I knew what was going to happen.

Natsume licked my lips, smirking at the way I moaned softly under my breath, and then he left my lips in the cold.

I breathed unevenly as he trailed butterfly kisses on my neck. He pushed me to his bed while our lips were still locked onto each other. I slightly jumped out of shock when I suddenly felt the wood of his bed against my knees, slightly shoving him away. "S-stop." I finally breathed, my fear taking control over me. "T-this is bad, and you know it..."

He looked at me with only lust twinkling in his crimson eyes, and a smirk appeared on his lips. "Admit it, you like it too." He slowly pushed me onto his bed, his eyes never leaving mine. "Not to mention that you want this, too."

I couldn't disagree with that: everything he did felt good, I didn't feel any disgust or whatsoever. I wanted more of what he did, really. But… it was also my first time...

Natsume saw the troubled look I automatically presented to him and licked my neck; I let out a moan and threw my head more into the thick blankets to give him more access, my eyes closed.

Suddenly, he neared his face near my head. "I'll be gentle," he whispered into my ear and out of surprise, I reopened my eyes again. "I promise." I gazed at him for a moment, seeing that he meant it, and the fear slowly fainted away.

I nodded curtly to let him know that I was trusting him and he immediately crashed his lips on mine again, slowly unbuttoning my blouse in the meantime.

* * *

Sam – Let your imagination go wild on what will happen next. xD

So, what do you think of the love scenes? Especially the last one of course: the one were a lot of you readers were dying to read. :) Hope this gets you more psyched for the up-coming chapters. Oh, that's _now_ going to be filled with a lot more of NxM love scenes. ;D

Also, I want to apologize for updating so late. I have my finals now and my computer has died on me. _All_ my things are on there. I'm quite lucky I can use my brother's old computer in the meantime and that my beta-reader has all the documents of my stories. So please thank her because without her, you couldn't even read this chapter.

There's a chance that my computer will work again, so I'm trying to turn it on as soon as I've got time, and then just hope for the best.

So, wish me luck. xD

Hope you all understand the big delay and I'll try to let it not happen again. :j

Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked it. Please review and don't flame.

Much love,  
Unknown Pain


	9. Doubt and Trust

**Story original written by –** Unknown Pain & Rekindled Moroseness.  
**Continued by –** Unknown Pain.  
**Disclaimer –** Disclaimed.

**A Bittersweet Pleasure **

"_Loving you is like touching a star; I know I can't reach you, yet I can't help but try." _

-Unknown Pain-

* * *

**-Chapter IX – Doubt and Trust-**

I took a deep breath as I slowly opened my eyes. It didn't take long before I closed them again, though. I stretched my body tiredly and turned to the other side with a small moan, not ready to get out of bed yet.

I didn't even notice the warmth next to me until my left hand rested on something unfamiliar. Still not embraced by reality, I calmly reopened my eyes to see what it was.

I blinked confusedly when I looked right at Natsume's sleeping face, his deep breathing tickling my face.

I backed away from him like he was some sort of alien and could just stop myself from screaming.

My eyes fell almost out of my skull, not missing his naked chest that the sheets exposed completely.

"What the hell is he doing h—?" I whispered to myself but cut my words off as I realized I wasn't even lying in my bed. This was Natsume's bed! But why…?

Swallowing and licking my dry lips, I carefully looked underneath the blankets; I could feel the life draining out of me as I gazed upon our naked bodies.

Oh no…

My heart raced in an unhealthy pace as flashbacks of yesterday finally flashed through my mind. "This can't be…" I breathed and placed one hand on my red cheek, feeling as though I got thrown in some kind of black hole.

Without even thinking, I jumped out of bed and almost ran to his bathroom. I turned on the cold shower to escape the heat that nearly exploded out of my body.

I couldn't believe it. This had to be some kind of dream; I couldn't have… sex with him: _my step-brother_! There was no way I could have let him go so far that he'd taken my virginity.

"There's no way, there's no way, there's no way…" I repeated silently while biting my bottom lip until it grew painful. But every time I said that sentence, scenes of Natsume and me appeared in front of my eyes: us kissing. His voice soothing my fears. Him undressing me.

I shivered as I still felt the presence of his fingers exploring my body.

I felt weird: it was like every feeling that a human could have was flying through my body, but there wasn't any sign of disgust…

After a minute I left the shower, the coldness finally embraced me. I quickly got a big, white towel to dry myself with. But just when I placed it around me, someone knocked on the door.

"Oi," I jumped in surprise upon hearing _his_ dark voice. "Oi!"

"Y-yes…?" I finally responded and gulped nervously; I hated it. I couldn't even reply normally to him!

"Let me in," Natsume demanded.

I immediately eyed the wooden door as though I could see him. "W-what?"

"Let me in."

"No!" I blurted out, tightening the towel around my body in a protective manner. "I'm… still naked."

"So? It wouldn't be the first time I've seen you naked." That was not the thing I wanted to hear.

I swallowed my dry throat and ignored the water droplet sliding down my cheek. "Go away, Natsume…"

"I have your clothes," he told me stubbornly.

My eyes widened, feeling as though I fell only in a deeper hole; I panicked so much that I forgot to bring my clothes!

I pushed my wet hair back, biting my lip in hesitation. Why did he always win?

I slowly unlocked the door and took a step backwards as the male opened the door. He stepped inside in a nonchalant manner, wearing jeans only.

My cheeks heat up as his crimson eyes stopped on my body. I quickly gazed away as he handed me my clothes.

An awkward silence came between us.

I just looked at the stony-floor, finding it even difficult to only look at his body, while Natsume had his gaze locked on me, as if he was waiting for something.

I sucked on the insides of my cheek; please, just go away…!

"Let me watch you get dressed."

My temperature inside of me immediately raised again. "Eh?" I uttered, not missing the suspicious glistering in his eyes. "No! No! W-why would you anyway?" I said, taking a step backwards in the meantime.

"Why not?" His expression stayed blunt.

I cleared my dry throat and eyed away again. "I…want privacy." Natsume's raven brows furrowed a bit before he sighed in annoyance, and did what I wanted.

I exhaled deeply in relief when I could lock the door again. I ran my hand over my face, in the meantime trying to slow down my fast heartbeat.

After I was fully calmed down, I put my clothes away to dry myself completely. As I was dressed and had combed my hair, I left the bathroom.

It surprised me when I found Natsume busy putting on his shirt.

He suddenly halted his actions and peered over his shoulder as he noticed me. I just stood there in silence while he turned around to face me properly, not having a clue about what to do.

We looked at each other for a moment in silence, both not missing the strange atmosphere appearing around us.

My heart started to act crazy again at his intense stare and I lowered my head so my bangs would hide the red color my face started to make.

Not knowing what else I could do, I walked away. I chewed on my bottom lip to ignore the butterflies flying around in my stomach.

"Wait." He commanded me to stop just when I was about to reach the door knob. I didn't even have the chance to open the door because he had already a hold on my arm.

In a quick movement Natsume had pulled me towards him. I was shocked when his mouth was suddenly on mine.

I shivered as his hands carefully made their way to my waist.

His lips gently brushed against mine. I hated it how good it felt and how I slowly couldn't control myself anymore to stop.

He tried to put his tongue inside my mouth and I just let him, enjoying everything. I knew I had to stop before it ended up like yesterday, but it was like I was paralyzed.

"Mikan!"

Our eyes fluttered open in alarm and we quickly pushed each other away, turning our attention to the door where Aoi's voice came from.

"Mikan, are you here?" we heard again.

Natsume groaned a bit in annoyance. "What does that annoying little child want now?"

The door suddenly opened, "Natsume, do you know wh—?" Aoi blinked her crimson eyes upon seeing me. Her thin, raven brow rose questioningly. "What are you doing here?"

We were _officially_ screwed!

"I… Uhh, I…" I stuttered nervously, already panicking mentally as I tried to think of a good excuse. There was no way I could tell her the truth; _nobody_ could _ever_ find out about this.

Aoi started to furrow her forehead in suspiciousness.

"She asked me if I could bring you two to school," Natsume lied for me, his hands resting in his pockets.

Aoi blinked in surprise and faced me. "Really?"

I quickly nodded with a forced smile.

"Oh…alright then. I'll inform Dad that you're our taxi today."

Just before she wanted to leave, she halfway turned around. "Oh, and thanks!" She smiled at her brother, who just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, just wanting her to leave already.

I sighed deeply in relief as Aoi closed the door.

"That was close," the male reacted in a way like it didn't bother him at all.

I shot him a glare from the corner of my eye; I so wanted to hate him for actually being so cool about this.

Suddenly, Natsume stepped closer towards me. "You okay?" I stiffened as he caressed my upper arm.

"Y-yeah…" I said, facing him in surprise; why was he suddenly so gentle?

But before I got caught up in the moment again, I moved away.

I bit the insides of my cheek as Natsume's eyebrows slightly furrowed. Didn't he see the bad things in this?

"Uhm… let's go downstairs. I'm sure our parents are waiting with breakfast," I suggested in a quick voice to give him a reason to stop.

Natsume let some breath escape his thin lips while ruffling his hair in annoyance. "Fine," he replied curtly and opened the door.

* * *

"Thanks again, Natsume!" Aoi exclaimed as she opened the car door. The said male just hn'ed and kept on looking forward nonchalantly.

"Are you coming too, Mikan?" my step-sister called from outside the car.

I swallowed my dry throat and quickly nodded. "Y-yeah…" I forced a small smile on my lips.

While I opened the door, I glanced from the corner of my eye at the rear view mirror, looking right into Natsume's dark eyes.

I looked away after some seconds and stepped out. As soon as I closed the door, Natsume started the car again and drove away; I couldn't stop myself from watching him.

"Mikan!" Aoi called to get my attention. When I turned to her, I saw that she was already standing in front of the gate, waiting for me.

"Ah… Sorry." I headed to her with a quick pace and walked further to the school building when I caught up with her.

"Hey!" Aoi immediately called as she saw Hotaru sitting on the grass alone, reading a book while waiting for the school bell to ring.

She didn't bother to greet back or to even look up.

"How're you doing?" Aoi asked happily. It surprised me that Hotaru let her hug her, without pushing her away or insult her.

"Fine," she responded curtly, her voice set into a monotone as usual. Finally, after seconds of silence, she let us see her amethyst eyes. "You?"

"Been fine as always," the youngest Hyuuga responded with the same happy smile on her face.

Hotaru's gaze shifted to me and her look changed a bit. "What's wrong with you?"

Aoi turned to me as well.

I gave her a confused look. "… What?"

"You do look like something has happened," Aoi agreed with her cousin. "_Did_ something happen?"

I just gazed at the two in silence, somewhat freaking out about what I had to say to them.

I didn't even realize I was looking the same as I was feeling.

"N-nothing," I quickly responded and smiled to get more chance they'd believe me. "I'm just a little bit tired, I guess."

Both girls gave me a suspicious look, but only Aoi nodded one time in acceptance. "Okay, if you say so," she added in an easy tone.

Luckily for me, the school bell rang. "And that's the sign we have to go our separate ways," Aoi said half-jokingly.

Hotaru put her book in her bag and removed herself from the grass in the meantime.

"See you later!" I waved her goodbye as she caught up with two of her classmates, and disappeared into the school building.

Just when I was about to get into the building myself, Hotaru grabbed my wrist. "What did he do?"

I frowned questionably, not missing her suspicious look that only grew with the seconds I didn't say anything.

"W-what are you talking about?" I returned slowly and pulled my hand back.  
"That idiotic pervert I have to call my cousin." I swallowed thickly, already getting a feeling about who she was talking about. "Natsume," She somewhat grumbled while I still kept on being silent.

Even though I already had a feeling that she was talking about him, I was still at a loss for words.

I stared at her with my lips slightly parted, mentally screaming at my heart to calm down. But it got only worse when she narrowed her cold-looking eyes.

"W-what… Why do you think it has something to do with him?" I finally blurted out, smiling to make sure I could be in the safe zone a little bit longer.

Hotaru's expression stayed the same, "It's always him."

I felt my throat tighten while I held up my shoulders innocently; I'd rather die than to tell her I had sex with him. "Well… this time it isn't."

She raised her eyebrow before I continued my way to the school building.

"I don't believe you." The female said bluntly when she caught up with me.

I frowned. "Is it weird that I'm not feeling okay today?"

Hotaru opened the door. "When it comes to you, yes, it is."

"Thank you," I returned in a deep voice, already feeling insulted.

We stopped at my locker. It surprised me that she didn't keep on walking, like she usually did.

She started to look intently at me, her forehead furrowed, as though it'd give her answers. I tried to ignore it the best I could, in the meantime biting on the insides of my cheek.

Just when I closed my locker, she shook her head and twirled around to walk away.

"Hey, wait up!" I immediately yelled and went after her. I let out a deep sigh when she just pretended she didn't hear me (as usual), and stopped trying to catch up with her.

My phone suddenly started to vibrate, startling me a bit. I halted my steps and grabbed it quickly.

"Yes?" I said when I pushed the object against my left ear.

"_Hey." _

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "N-Natsume?" I returned, acting like I hadn't heard from him in days. I swallowed as my heart already started to beat faster just from hearing his voice.

"_Why do you sound so __surprised?__"_ It almost didn't even sound like a question.

"Uhmm…" I let out, not knowing how to respond to that.

"_Never mind,"_ the male reacted impatiently. _"Our parents want to get rid of some old stuff and they want me to bring it to the dump. I'll pick you up right after school."_

"Wait, what?" I groaned. "Why do I have to go? Can't Aoi go with you?"

"_No." _

I watched Hotaru disappearing into the classroom. "Why not?"

"_Don't ask me."_

I sighed in irritation. "Does Aoi know this?"

"_Yeah, I already texted her." _

"Alright. I'll… see you in a couple of hours then." I ended the call and put my cell phone back in my pocket.

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. I was so not in for this. Even if Aoi would come with us, he'd still try things. Nonetheless, there was still a part of me that was excited about seeing Natsume again.

I let out some air escaping my lips and quickly shook my head. My cheeks were already beginning to heat up.

Ah, this was definitely not going to end well…

* * *

I halted when I saw Natsume leaning against his car, calmly smoking his cigarette while he was waiting for me.

I nervously looked around me to see if Aoi was around. Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found.

I took a deep, hesitating breath and finally went to him.

"Finally," he "greeted" bluntly. "What took you so long?" He threw the cigarette on the ground and extinguished it with his left foot.

"Sorry…" I frowned when I realized how soft and nervous my voice sounded. Even Natsume raised his eyebrow at me.

I quickly cleared my throat, pushing my nose a bit higher into the air to get rid of the insecure posture. "Wh-where's Aoi?" I asked instead.

"Still in school; Dad will pick her up about an hour."

I furrowed my eyebrows a bit; why was he acting like nothing had happened between us? "Oh… " I looked down at my feet: it hurt me to even think that this – that everything didn't matter to him.

"Are you done wasting time because I want to get this over with, and go home," Natsume's rude words pulled me out of thoughts.

I immediately snapped my chin back up and nodded quickly.

He removed himself nonchalantly from the passenger door. While I opened it, he walked around to get into the driver's seat.

The whole ride to the dump was nothing but silence between us: I didn't know what to talk about and was bracing myself for whatever he was going to do to me. But it looked like he didn't have anything in his mind… He didn't even pay _attention_ to me.

I placed my head against the cold window and closed my eyes to get some rest and to calm my mind.

After what felt like just some short seconds, Natsume stopped the car. I looked up at the sound of jingling of his car keys.

I blinked, confused. "Is this the place?" I asked, uncertain, and eyed the building to our left.

Natsume nodded once before he opened the door. "Come."

I did what he said and followed him to the back of the car. "This is what they want to get rid of," the male said as he opened the trunk. There were only three small, wooden side tables.

I frowned as I remembered that these were always my mother's. "Are you sure?" I returned. "They were my Mom's favorites."

Natsume shrugged nonchalantly, his emotionless expression didn't disappear. "I'm just doing what I was told." He grabbed one table and pushed it into my hands. As soon as he got the other two, he walked away to the building.

I quickly closed the trunk and had no choice but to follow him.

I was still surprised that he hadn't done anything: Natsume walked in front of me as though I meant nothing to him.

There were no stupid, cocky comments from him; not even an insult when I still didn't know where I had to bring the table. And there were no intense looks he's so good at giving me.

He was just being the Natsume he always was when I just got to know him. One side of me was relieved, but the other was wondering if something was wrong.

The ride was just as expected silent. When we got home, I immediately headed to the house, dying to get to my room: the only place I knew of, at the moment, where I could clear up my messy thoughts.

"I'm home!" I shouted after I threw the door open.

Two of our maids came out of the living room and greeted us politely, even bowing to us. Natsume ignored them while I was friendly enough to smile and greet them back.

As the two maids walked away, my mother appeared from the living room, "Oh, hey!" she greeted kindly. "Welcome home!"

Her amber eyes turned to Natsume. "Did you bring those tables to the dump?" He nodded once.

"Why did you want to get rid of it?" I asked with my forehead slightly furrowed. "I thought you said you loved them."

"I did," she responded. "But they were getting old. It was time to throw them away and get new stuff."

She had a point, I thought.

Even though I smiled at her, my mother blinked her beautiful eyes, "Is something the matter…?" she asked in a worried tone.

I gave her a confused look back, not understanding where that suddenly came from.

"You look like something bad has happened," she explained, reducing the distance between us. "Did you have a rough day at school?"

There it was again, that feeling that made you want to scream at the top of your lungs and run away as fast as you could.

I stared at my mother with big eyes, shocked and surprised about the question. "N-no…" I answered, trying my best to sound as normal as possible. But my voice was soft and actually shivering, not just because I felt horrible about what had happened between Natsume and me, but also because I lied to my mother; the woman I could rely on my whole _life_, who I could trust.

It almost made me want to cry, hug her, and tell her everything what had happened. But a voice told me I couldn't and it was right: I would only get myself, Natsume, and even the whole family, in trouble.

I quickly cleared my throat as Mom furrowed her thin eyebrows even more in worry. "No," I said again, this time stronger, and did my best to present a big, honest smile. "I'm just not feeling alright today. It's no biggie; I'm sure everything will be okay tomorrow."

Her face immediately lightened up, though her eyes were still showing some signs of concern. "If you say so." She showed me a small smile.

Natsume suddenly sighed and made his way upstairs, ignoring the maid he encountered. He scowled at her as she didn't go to the side fast enough.

"But if you need anything, you know where to find me, right?" my mother said, getting back my attention.

I nodded and smiled in appreciation. "T-thanks. I guess I'll do my homework and go to bed early."

Mom nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

I smiled once more before going upstairs. As soon as I got upstairs, I spotted Natsume entering his room.

"Natsume!" I blurted out, already biting my bottom lip as a punishment for doing so as I saw how irritated and angry he looked.

"What do you want?" he snapped darkly.

I cringed at his voice; it wasn't the first time he talked to me like that, but now it felt incredibly different. I was scared that he'd leave me, hurt that he had ignored me, and confused about why he was so angry with me.

Those three feelings were welling up inside me, making me feel even worse than I already did.

Maybe this was the right moment to go to my room and leave him alone, but I didn't want to leave until things were cleared up.

Not wanting to wait what I had to say anymore, Natsume disappeared through the door way.

"Ah, wait!" I quickly said, alarmed, and immediately went after him.

He sighed deeply, even lowering his head for a second, before he turned to face me. He raised his eyebrow at me impatiently.

"What is wrong with you all of a sudden?" I asked directly, my eyebrows slightly furrowed.

This time, his eyebrow lifted because of confusion. "Nothing," he said in a monotone.

"Then why are you ignoring me and acting so angry at me?" I asked in slight anger.

Natsume furrowed his forehead a bit. "Because you're annoying me," he answered bluntly. He didn't realize his words hurt me until he saw my expression. I could see it shocked him because he widened his eyes for only a second, before heading quickly to his bed.

With a sigh of frustration, and pushing his bangs backwards in the meantime, he sat down.

"Besides," he paused to look at me; I swallowed at his eyes that blazed secretly behind his messy locks. It made him look dangerous and got me even more nervous. "I thought you wanted me to ignore you."

"W-what?" I shrieked, my eyes big in disbelief. "I have never told you such a thing!"

"The way you were acting said enough," Natsume returned matter-of-factly.

I immediately closed my mouth. That was right: I did push him away the whole time, but that _didn't_ mean I wanted him to ignore me.

"I did that… because I was scared," I told him in a soft voice, hoping he'd believe me.

Natsume's expression softened, "Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was still deep but it didn't sound as angry anymore as it did before.

I held up my shoulders, suddenly finding it really difficult to look him in the eye. "I don't know," I swallowed. "The thought of our parents and friends finding out about us having sex…" I blushed automatically at saying the word, flashbacks of yesterday already flashing through my mind. "F-freaked me out."

Natsume turned away from me after some silent seconds. I eyed him again and furrowed my eyebrows slightly in confusion. "Aren't you scared…?"

He shook his head curtly.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think this is wrong." He suddenly looked me right into the eyes. "I've told you already before that I don't see you as my sister. I see you as my…" He licked his lips in hesitation, turning away from me once again, before finally muttering, "… Girlfriend."

My cheeks immediately went scarlet and the butterflies already filled my stomach. The way how fast my heart was beating felt, unlike the other times, nice.

I knew I shouldn't, but what he said made me happy.

Seeing the smile I didn't even realize I put on, Natsume turned to me again with a smile of his own; it was small but it looked beautiful on him.

"Do you regret everything that had happened between us…?" Natsume asked in a whisper, reaching his hand out to me.

I shook my head quietly while grabbing his hand, and letting him gently pull me towards him.

I realized I really didn't feel any regret inside of me. Maybe I was just scared the whole time.

Natsume placed his arms around my waist as I sat down on his lap.

I blushed at how gentle he suddenly was, still not used to seeing such a side of him, but I liked it.

I soon leaned my head against his chest with a sigh. "I just wonder… if everything will work out for us. Or, _how_."

It took a while before Natsume responded. "It will."

"How?"

"We just have to be careful with what we're doing," he said easily.

I immediately removed my head from his chest to show him an irritated glare. "How do you know that that is going to work? This _isn't_ something that you can take lightly, Natsume. We'll have to do mo—" In just a quick movement he pulled me towards him, sealing my lips with a hard kiss.

I placed my hands on his chest to push him away, not wanting him to get away with it so easily: this was _serious_. We really had to talk about it. Unfortunately, he didn't budge, no matter how hard I struggled.

"Natsume…" I breathed against his lips. That was when he finally parted from me, "You trust me, right?"

I nodded immediately. "I do," I said quietly.

Natsume lifted his head a bit to the right. "Then you also know that I'll do everything to protect us and our secret, right?" He looked serious.

I nodded once again to answer. Natsume lifted the ends of his lips at that, looking proud. He leaned in to kiss me again, but halted as he saw the uncertainties I still presented in my eyes.

"Everything will be alright," he soothed me. "I promise that everything will be worth it." The way he said these words almost made me shiver.

Natsume leaned his face near mine again but didn't do anything until I closed my eyes, signaling him I trusted and believed his words.

I could sense his smile before he finally closed the distance between us.

* * *

Sam – Sorry for the long wait guys. Just had a lot of things going on in my life, and my beta-reader was busy too. But here is the chapter so I hope this makes up for everything. :)

I decided that Natsume's family are having maids, like any other rich family would have if they're living in a mansion. They actually had to be there in the very beginning but I forgot them. Yeah… I'm hopeless. But when I'm going to rewrite this story, everything will be okay. Yes. Everything~

Thanks **TaintedRain** for making a cover for this fanfic; dear, you're amazing!

Thank you all for reading and I hoped you all liked it. Please review and no flames.

Love you all!

Much love,  
Unknown Pain


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